City of Erfurt expands warning infrastructure

Official warning messages should be distributed in as many ways as possible to reach the population as quickly as possible. To ensure this, in the event of a serious danger, official warning messages of levels 1 to 3 are now not only sent to the press and smartphones in the Erfurt city area but are also displayed on Ströer's digital city information systems.

The warning service is free of charge for the city; Ströer's partner for this service is the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK). Ströer is thus an official warning multiplier. Local partners are the fire department and disaster control of the state capital Erfurt. The cooperation makes it possible to quickly display appropriate warning messages in an emergency through interfaces to the Modular Warning System (MoWaS) of the federal government. The aim is to trigger all warning devices and warning multipliers in the area of responsibility at the touch of a button and to send hazard warnings via all available channels. The digital city information systems are connected to the satellite-based MoWaS.

The digital screens are located in Erfurt at central and highly frequented junctions and on main roads. Together with the Erfurt fire department control center, Ströer has created the conditions to simultaneously display ad-hoc messages on a total of 20 large-format digital screens in Erfurt and thus reach as many people as possible. “We welcome the opportunity to provide direct information about potential dangers and emergencies in public spaces and the associated benefits for the population,” commented Ricarda Schreeg, acting head of the Department of Safety, Environment and Sport.

“As a long-standing partner of cities, we contribute to the urban communication infrastructure with our digital city media. Warnings or information from the fire department, police or authorities should reach the population as promptly and purposefully as possible – also, or above all, in public spaces. With our media, we reach a great many people in a short period of time. We are very pleased that the state capital of Erfurt can now also display warning levels one to three on our media,” says Alexander Stotz, CEO of Ströer Media Deutschland GmbH.

In total, around 6,000 digital media from Ströer are integrated into the warning infrastructure in 300 cities in Germany. In cooperation with the cities, Ströer launched the digitalization of public spaces several years ago. Through its digital media offering, the company has developed into an important partner for urban information networks in public spaces and is thus making its contribution to the municipal vision of a smart city. All of Ströer's digital media carriers in Germany are powered by green electricity and contribute to a modern and future-oriented cityscape.

Photo credit: Municipality of Erfurt/Vitalik Gürtler

People in the photo (from left to right): Lars Angler from the Erfurt professional fire department (disaster control), Ricarda Schreeg, temporary deputy for safety, environment and sport, Ralf Steinmann (branch manager of the Magdeburg/Erfurt portfolio at Ströer)