The Center for Satellite based Crisis Information (ZKI) is an institution of the German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD) at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen.

At ZKI Earth Observation data such as satellite or aerial imagery as well as geo data is acquired and analysed in order to generate up-to-date situational awareness information before, during or after a disaster situation or in case of major events. All crisis information is produced according to the ZKI users’ requirements and provided for instance as maps, geo-pdf, web services or text dossiers. Main national and international user groups are political decision makers, situation centers and relief organisations. Many ZKI products are published at the website. In addition, consultancy, technology transfer as well as trainings and exercises are provided. The close interlocking between research, development and service is an enormous strength of the ZKI.

At national and international level ZKI cooperates with different partners from research and industry. It is closely networked with administrative partners as well as non-governmental organisations and consists mainly of the three services ZKI-DE, Copernicus EMS and the International Charter “Space and Major Disasters”.

BBK and ZKI workshop with DRK, BRK, THW Bavaria, and Fire Academy Geretsried 16 May 2019 In January 2019 extreme snow falls in the whole Alpine foothills led to the declaration state of emergency in five Bavarian districts. On request of the federal office for civil protection and disaster relief the DLR supported through the ZKI-DE service with satellite-based map information about the situation of the snow coverage. More

Visit of the Federal Criminal Police Office at the ZKI 03 Mai 2019 Since 2013, the ZKI-DE Service has enabled the short-term purchase and analysis of current and past remote sensing data for federal authorities. From the data, ZKI-specific and user-defined products are created at the ZKI. More

Another meeting between BKG and ZKI 17 April 2019 Since 2013, the ZKI-DE Service has been enabling federal agencies the supply and analysis of recent and past remote sensing data to generate ZKI- and user specific products on short notice. Within the recent frame contract (2017-2020) between the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (BMI) and the DLR, the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) should be qualified to offer the multifarious operational tasks of the ZKI-DE Service to be able to provide the standard service from 2021 ongoing by themselves. More

Karlheinz Busen and Bernd Reuther visit ZKI 01 April 2019 Two members of the German Bundestag, Karlheinz Busen (FDP) and Bernd Reuther (FDP), visited the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen on 28 March 2019 to hear about activities in the areas of digitisation, agriculture and transportation. They were particularly interested in the subject of "traffic applications" at the Center for Satellite Based Crisis Information (ZKI) of the Earth Observation Center (EOC). More

Tropical Cyclone Idai hits Mozambique and Zimbabwe 22 March 2019 The Tropical Cyclone Idai is regarded as one of the worst tropical cyclones on record to affect Africa and the Southern Hemisphere as a whole. The storm caused catastrophic damage in multiple nations, leaving so far more than 600 people dead and hundreds more missing. Idai brought strong winds and caused severe flooding in Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. More