Ministerial Director Dr. Frehse and Dr. Latsch from BMI visit the ZKI
Ministerial Director Dr. Frehse (Head of Directorate-General H - Community) and Dr. Latsch (Head of Division - Geoinformation) of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI) visited the ZKI in the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) on October 1, 2019 to inform themselves about the ongoing work and the practical application of the research work within the operational ZKI services. Dr. Frehse was particularly interested in the current status of the support of federal authorities and disaster control and security agencies contractually agreed with the Federal Ministry of the Interior. In addition, information was provided on the ongoing process of transferring tasks from the field of satellite-based crisis information to the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG).
Furthermore, the DLR colleagues gave an insight into future technology developments and their possible applications for federal authorities. Dr. Dennis Göge, programme coordinator for DLR's security research, gave an overview of DLR's research and development activities, particularly those related to security. Dr Günter Strunz, Head of the Geo Risks and Civil Security Department, and Dr Monika Gähler, Head of the ZKI, focused primarily on the future research and development of the ZKI.
Since 2013, DLR - on the basis of the "ZKI-DE" framework agreement with the Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community - has provided its capability - built up since 2004 from research and operational projects in Oberpfaffenhofen - to create satellite-based crisis information products and services for federal civil protection and security authorities as well as disaster management (BBK, THW, BRK) at home and abroad. The framework agreement "ZKI-DE" includes not only product development but also consulting and training services as well as user-oriented further developments of the portfolio.
"Based on user feedback, targeted demand surveys and field assistance, we were able to successfully expand our product portfolio to meet the needs of the security authorities at federal and state level," explains Dr. Monika Gähler. "In the course of the ZKI-DE service the demand for services and the depth of information provided has steadily increased, particularly on the part of the security authorities," Gähler continues. With new research results from remote sensing, the ZKI is constantly expanding its product portfolio.
Due to the high acceptance of this new application technology by the ZKI-DE users, the contract was continued for another four years in 2017. For the permanent implementation of such a service, DLR was also commissioned to enable the BKG to take over the operational tasks within the contract period until the end of 2020. For this purpose, a satellite-based crisis and situation service (SKD) is currently being installed at the BKG with the support of the BMI and trained by DLR.
In the future, DLR will continue its research and development activities at ZKI to support disaster risk management, crisis response and civil security applications.