Virtual Operations Support Teams (VOSTs) are a novel form of organized intelligence-gathering effort that has recently appeared in the emergency management and disaster response domain. Using novel organizational strategies and advanced algorithmic tools, such teams are set up to master the challenge of data overload and to turn it into increased situational awareness for decision-makers. This paper contains an analysis of the structural, procedural and technical requirements of VOSTs for the collaborative deployment with emergency management agencies during the Grand Départ of the Tour de France 2017 in Düsseldorf. We had the unique opportunity to participate in the creation and initial deployments of a VOST, a new team assembled by the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW). Based on our observations we will provide a structured investigation into the various tasks of a VOST, such as social media monitoring, information verification, and crisis mapping. Due to the specific nature of the challenges faced by a VOST, which inherently involve big data processing, we will discuss the technical requirements and future prospects of data mining tools developed for and employed within this context.

虚拟运营支持团队（VOST）是一种新型的有组织的情报收集工作，最近在应急管理和灾难响应领域出现了。通过使用新颖的组织策略和先进的算法工具，成立了这样的团队来应对数据过载的挑战，并将其转变为决策者增强的态势感知能力。本文包含期间的VOSTs与应急管理机构协同部署的结构，程序和技术要求，分析盛大启航杜塞尔多夫2017年环法自行车赛的冠军。我们有独特的机会参与了VOST的创建和初始部署，VOST是由德国联邦技术救济局（THW）组建的新团队。根据我们的观察，我们将对VOST的各种任务进行结构化调查，例如社交媒体监控，信息验证和危机映射。由于VOST所面临的挑战具有特定的性质，而后者本质上涉及大数据处理，因此我们将讨论在此背景下开发和使用的数据挖掘工具的技术要求和未来前景。