Google's new Google Search And Rescue, a search engine for lost people, could put St. Bernards out of the search and rescue business.

Often times, as it happens, a loved one forgets to tell their spouse that they're working late at the office, that they're stuck in traffic, or they're meeting friends after work. With Google Search And Rescue, it's only a simple matter of typing in the name of the individual in the search and rescue engine. Nearly instantly, the whereabouts of that person's location is known to the person who initiates the search.

But Google Search And Rescue has greater purpose. Its unique custom-designed algorithms will also aid in the search for lost skiers, hikers, boaters, and to a minor extent, misplaced children or elderly grandparents in shopping malls.

The Google Search And Rescue team has been highly trained in the latest search algorithms and techniques, and are able to optimize their searches based on several years of refining. While Google wouldn't reveal their methods, they said that their technologies were more advanced than a St. Bernard in an snowfall.

Programmers and testers of Google Search And Rescue have been impressed with the early results.

Shirley Eugeste, a Java programmer and worried mother, used Google Search And Rescue to find her 15-year-old son Bobby who had run away from home. "We tried to Ask Jeeves where our missing son was located," said Shirley, "but Jeeves had no idea of my teen's whereabouts."

Shirley had some concerns about the reputation of other search and rescue engines, and didn't want to put her trust in some "yahoo" to find her boy. Shirley had also tried using MSN Persons, but to no surprise, it hadn't yet indexed any members of her family.

Right now, Google Search and Rescue is only in beta, and unfortunately, its services don't extend to missing pets, keys, or wallets. But its missing person search engine is already achieving better-than-expected results.

In one search attempt for a lost mountain hiker, Google search and rescue members not only found the lost hiker, it also returned 5 other related hikers, and had located an additional 14 mountain climbers in a supplemental search.