The same technology that allows curious Web surfers to view detailed images of faraway places may also give police a leg up the next time a child is abducted in Utah.

The statewide Child Abduction Response Team recently started using aerial mapping software called ArcGIS. The team hasn't had a chance to put its new program to the test, but investigators say the geographic information systems software will allow them to use more detailed strategies and better organization during searches for abducted children or other missing people.

"It's like Google Earth, only better," said Bill Fossmo, a CART analyst. "It gives you the same aerial perspective, but allows you to put layers of information on top of those aerial photographs so you can learn more about your crime scene."

Where ArcGIS differs from the popular satellite image program is that it allows them to add variables and details. The program can be used to mark areas that have already been searched, show precise property lines, pinpoint the location of known sex offenders in the area and keep track of important locations, such as a missing child's last known whereabouts and possible locations, Fossmo said.

For example, Fossmo said, the program will show investigators where plat lines are in relation to a satellite image so they can quickly determine whom they must talk to get for permission to search a particular property, while also learning that there's a shed in the back of the house they should check out.

" 'Visualize' is the word I like to use with this software," Fossmo said.

CART was formed earlier this year under the aegis of the state attorney general's office. It is comprised of about 41 officers from local, state and federal agencies in Utah with experience in child abductions. The purpose is to allow greater cooperation between agencies that are sometimes hindered when searches must cross boundaries such as county lines and city limits.

"Probably the best way I've heard it described is as a SWAT team for child abductions," said Paul Murphy, a spokesman for the attorney general's office and the state's Amber Alert coordinator.

The ArcGIS software was donated to CART by the Environmental Systems Research Institute of Redlands, Calif., which describes itself as the world's largest provider of GIS software. ESRI head Lou Nelson, a retired police chief, said he gave CART the software free of charge because Utah has a high number of law enforcement agents who are trained in the use of GIS software and because he had never seen a statewide approach to child abduction as comprehensive as CART. "I'm excited about the fact that they've developed this team, particularly for the fact that, as a father and grandfather, I don't know how people go on when they have a child missing like that," Nelson said. "Our hope is that we can help facilitate the return ... of a child sometime in the future."

According to Murphy, Utah County does not have any representatives on CART. But Lt. Darin Murphy of the Utah County Sheriff's Office said there has been some discussion of starting a countywide team that would be similar.

"Obviously coordination and sharing resources is key when you're doing something like that," he said.

Jeremy Duda can be reached at 344-2561 or jduda@heraldextra.com.