Serve the field mission
Build practical tools around the way SAR drone teams actually search, coordinate, document flights, and review imagery.
Donations
Built for the search.
Sustained by the community.
RID2Caltopo began a little over a year ago as a Python script that converted drone tracks to GeoJSON for import into CalTopo. Field needs kept pulling it forward, and it has grown into a small ecosystem supporting our SAR drone team's work.
How it grew
One utility became a field platform.
What started as track conversion now spans Android and iOS field apps, DroneScout Bridge reception, CalTopo publishing, local and pilot-authorized video, incident coordination, flight records, and an expanding set of operational tools.
I've invested many hundreds of hours in the project. Starting late last year, I've also spent hundreds of dollars on AI tokens and development tools to reach the current level of functionality. I plan to continue development aimed at making SAR drone teams more capable and productive.
Project directives
Useful, accessible, accountable.
Keep the core accessible
Keep the RID2Caltopo field app free, preserve the self-hosted path, and make managed services transparent and usage-based.
Respect operational control
Protect organization data, require pilot approval before video leaves the field device, and never present software as a substitute for trained judgment.
Grow both platforms together
Treat Android and iOS as peer platforms and continue improving the capabilities and productivity of SAR drone teams.
Where contributions go
Development first. NCSSAR next.
Contributions initially offset project development expenses, including the tools and AI resources used to design, implement, test, document, and publish RID2Caltopo and r2c-tracker.
As the user base grows, managed-service usage payments are intended to cover operating costs. After development costs are covered, any additional donations will go to our local Nevada County Sheriff's Search and Rescue.