Unexploded bombs from World War II: a risk that persists to this day
More than 80 years after the end of World War II, countless unexploded bombs still lie buried in German soil. Especially in cities like Hannover, which was heavily bombed at the time, they pose a serious threat, particularly when new construction projects are underway.
For the Hannover Fire Department, I had the opportunity to build a new digital ordnance registry. The starting point: many workflows around the identification and assessment of suspected unexploded ordnance (UXO) locations were still largely manual. Data was being collected diligently, but not always systematically linked or spatially analyzed. That needed to change.
The new system is built on a PostGIS database with a QGIS frontend and brings together several key components. Survey and clearance data from the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service at the Lower Saxony State Office for Geoinformation and Surveying is automatically imported and analyzed. By integrating ALKIS administrative units, suspected UXO locations can be automatically labeled and spatially classified – saving an enormous amount of manual effort in data maintenance.
An additional component is the automatic prioritization: the system evaluates city blocks based on the distribution and density of suspected UXO locations, factoring in their spatial proximity to sensitive facilities such as schools, hospitals, or critical infrastructure. This creates a well-founded basis for determining which areas should be surveyed and cleared first.
The system is complemented by up-to-date background mapping, providing emergency services with clear orientation at all times.
For me, this is a project that demonstrates how geodata and intelligent spatial analysis can make a very tangible contribution to public safety.