Slide 1
Slide 1 text
Data-driven policies:
sea-rescue operations in
France
PrédiSauvetage project @ EIG
Slide 2
Slide 2 text
Who am I?
I'm Antoine Augusti, a software engineer/data scientist (distributed systems
engineer, research master's in machine learning).
Work: started the data team @ Drivy (acquired by Getaround for $300M), sea
rescue @ maritime affairs, software engineer @ Etalab.
Areas of interest: public policy, regulation, transparency, tests, software
architecture, open source, open data.
Slide 3
Slide 3 text
Quizz
● Do you need a license to go out to sea in France?
● How large and significant is the sea territory of France?
● Who represents France at sea?
● What's the emergency radio channel at sea?
● How can you contact emergency services at sea?
● How do you do a distress call?
● Who's in charge of sea rescue in France?
● Who's going to save you if you're in distress at sea?
Slide 4
Slide 4 text
No content
Slide 5
Slide 5 text
No content
Slide 6
Slide 6 text
No content
Slide 7
Slide 7 text
International sea rescue convention: SOLAS
SAR at sea was introduced by the International Convention for the Safety of Life at
Sea (SOLAS), adopted in 1979 in Hamburg.
No matter where an accident occurs, the rescue of persons in distress at sea will
be coordinated by a SAR organisation and, when necessary, by cooperation
between neighbouring SAR organisations.
Before that, no system was in place to perform search and rescue operations
at-sea. In some areas, there was a well-established organisation able to provide
assistance promptly and efficiently, in others there was nothing at all.
Now, the IMO (International Maritime organisation) coordinates SAR at sea efforts.
Slide 8
Slide 8 text
SOLAS in practice
The IMO publishes a manual (IAMSAR) to describe how states should perform
SAR missions: organisation, management, mission coordination, mobile facilities.
States should declare to the IMO:
● Who's the SAR organisation
● Describe maritime rescue coordination centers (MRCC) and search and
rescue regions (SRR)
● Describe contact options
● Say which kind of assistance they can provide (kinds of vessels, helicopters,
people, special equipment)
Slide 9
Slide 9 text
No content
Slide 10
Slide 10 text
No content
Slide 11
Slide 11 text
No content
Slide 12
Slide 12 text
No content
Slide 13
Slide 13 text
No content
Slide 14
Slide 14 text
MRCC in France: les CROSS
In France, MRCC are called CROSS (Centres régionaux opérationnels de
surveillance et de sauvetage). They are armed with French Navy personnel,
supervised by officers from Maritime Affairs (Ministry of Ecology) under the
authority of Préfet Maritime. The first CROSS was introduced in 1967.
They've got a wide range of missions:
● maritime assistance and rescue missions
● pollution prevention
● fishing regulation
● relay nautical information
● respond to piracy, terrorism and attacks
Slide 15
Slide 15 text
MRCC in France: les CROSS
France has 5 MRCC in the metropolitan area, 4 overseas. It is armed 24/7 with
300 people. Rescue missions are always free. Assistance missions must be paid.
They can be contacted through VHF radio, emergency calls, satellites, telex,
distress fire signals.
2018 statistics:
● coordinated 12,915 missions, 53% between June and September
● saved 5,577 people and assisted 14,235 people, had 293 deaths
● engaged 10,434 vessels and 1,463 helicopters or planes
See main administrations involved at this link. Notice how important is the SNSM
for rescue boats.
Slide 16
Slide 16 text
No content
Slide 17
Slide 17 text
No content
Slide 18
Slide 18 text
No content
Slide 19
Slide 19 text
SNSM
Non profit organisation created in 1967.
● Missions: sea rescue, beach surveillance, first aid at public events
● 8,000 volunteers (3,350 dedicated to sea rescue), 79 paid staff
● 218 boat stations: 10 to 40 people / station
● Largest ship owner of France (145 boats, 400 inshore boats / jetskis)
● Budget of € 21 million, 25% funded by state and 75% by private donations
● Contract with MRCCs: departure in 10mn daytime / 15mn at night. Go up to
20 miles
Slide 20
Slide 20 text
What did you do?
Broad goal: use data analysis and machine learning to improve SAR operations.
What do they really mean?
● Minimise the number of assisted / saved / dead people?
● Minimise or eliminate assistance operations? (fuel error, engine problem,
electricity failure etc)
● Assist MRCCs when choosing what they'll send at sea?
● Point out lack of boats / helicopters for specific regions?
● Gather data to improve prevention campaigns?
● Draft out new policies based on previous operations?
● Identify upcoming risks in maritime sea rescue operations?
Slide 21
Slide 21 text
Who's interested by these improvements
● MRCCs want to improve how they coordinate operations, organise trainings,
spot trends in kind of operations, weather, risk factors
● Insurances want to understand how the sector is growing, provide appropriate
products and get a benefit in the end
● Local authorities want to know what happens in their zones, undertake
preventative measures, adapt buoys and signaling, spot new trends
● SNSM wants to know how their rescue boats are used, financial stability
● Associations and federations wants to learn more about the practice of their
sport, associated risks
● Maritime affairs want the sea to be safe with an acceptable budget and
appropriate policies
● Emergency services want more money and manpower if they go often at sea
Slide 22
Slide 22 text
What we decided
It would be great to do a bit of everything. The two of us are not going to solve
this. We're only here for 10 months.
People need documentation, easy access to data, and training to improve how
they work with data.
We're going to focus on making sure processes are
explained, data is made available to everyone, and
existing collaborations are improved.
Slide 23
Slide 23 text
We're going to publish all sea rescue
operations as open data.
Online.
Available to everyone.
Slide 24
Slide 24 text
No content
Slide 25
Slide 25 text
Work done
● Read about sea rescue conventions and big picture
● Visited multiple MRCCs. Talked with officers, préfectures, sport federations,
SNSM
● Product decisions and planning
● Open data, documentation, interactive map, BI dashboards, analysis
● Blog posts, reach out to medias
● Training in person and online
● Visited again MRCCs to train and adjust features
Slide 26
Slide 26 text
DEMO
● Interactive map: https://carte.snosan.fr
● Analysis: number of operations / shift, general BI
Slide 27
Slide 27 text
How is it used?
● MRCCs use it for reporting, understand their zone, how they work, training
● SNOSAN (sea-rescue observatory for leisure activities) perform analysis and
write policy recommendations
● Sea professionals and federations use these tools to debate policy changes
● Maritime affairs improve data collection and prepare upcoming system
changes
● Journalists sometimes perform and publish in-depth analysis
● Everyone has got access to tools, documentation and data
Slide 28
Slide 28 text
Prédisauvetage implied the idea of making predictions for sea rescue. Why we
didn't go this route?
● Users are not used to manipulating data concepts
● Missing key data: all boats at sea, ports, high confidence in sea rescue data
● No operational lever: can't easily move rescue-boats, no anticipation for
helicopters, can't send volunteers at sea with no reasons
● Manageable number of operations. Good enough understanding of needs by
workers.
● Not done in other sectors (more mature, higher number of ops) like firemen
And what about predictions?
Slide 29
Slide 29 text
●