The VABENE project came to a successful conclusion in 2013. It was so successful that a continuation project, VABENE++, was authorized for five more years starting from 2014. For this reason, a kick-off meeting took place in Münster on 3-5 December 2013 with the entire VABENE-team at the German Police Academy (DHPol) in Münster. After a survey of VABENE by Giulio Gullotta (BBK), a portrayal of VABENE from the perspective of DLR’s Transport Programme by Detlef Zukunft, and a lecture by Andreas Grosser (DHPol) on the subject of crisis management by the police during large-scale events, there was a review of the research results achieved by VABENE and a preview of VABENE++. On the last day the gathering was rounded off with a visit by all participants to the North Rhine-Westphalia Firefighting Institute in Münster.
In the VABENE++ project, powerful tools are being developed to aid public offices and organisations with security responsibilities as well as traffic authorities when dealing with disasters and large public events. The goal is to efficiently manage the required rescue logistics and the nearby traffic flow even under extreme conditions, thereby enabling response teams to rapidly reach the locations where they are needed. Scientists from various DLR institutes collaborate in this research project with the support of DLR’s Research Flight Facility. The Chair of Remote Sensing Technology at Munich Technical University (TU München) and the Department of Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing at Osnabrück University also participate in VABENE++. Research focuses on such areas as simulation and large-scale traffic modelling, aerial traffic monitoring, traffic risk assessment, data fusion, data management, and further developing Web technologies in a GIS environment. The project’s overall supervisor is Marc Hohloch.