The work and research results of BGR and the Geological Services of the States are, among others, published as maps and data sets. Learn more about how you can find, download and order the maps & data of BGR and its topic areas here.
Maps and data from the topic areas
The specialist topic areas of the four BGR departments (1 Natural Resources, 2 Groundwater and Soil Science, 3 Underground Space for Storage and Economic Use, 4 Geoscientific Information, International Cooperation) gather a lot of data in their daily work that can be displayed and processed e.g. visually as maps and spreadsheets.
You can view and download the maps and data from the BGR topic areas here.
BGR as a Federal Institution is responsible for maps and map products with a scale from 1:200,000 to 1:5,000,000 and smaller. More detailed maps and information can be obtained from the geological services of the respective federal states.
The BGR geological maps are available in print, plotted or as a digital data set.
Maps created in cooperation with other institutions are listed under the work results of the topic areas.
General standard terms and conditions (GSTC)
The content of the contract shall always include the following when concluding a contract with entrepreneurs (§ 14 of the German Civil Code (BGB)) and with non-entrepreneurs who are not consumers (§ 13 BGB):
When concluding contracts with consumers (§ 13 BGB), the statutory provisions apply.
Searching, ordering and downloading
Maps and other geological data assets are listed on the BGR Geoportal and can be searched for there. The maps are available in print at a low price and digitally for free in different resolutions and formats (e.g. PDF, TIFF, JPG as well as ESRI-Shape).
Order information for printed maps
Please order printed BGR maps directly from our commission merchant, Internationales Landkartenhaus (ILH) Stuttgart. To place an order, please send an e-mail including the exact product name and your contact details to: ilhinfo@ilh-stuttgart.de
On the Geoportal, you can find data sets, maps, documents, services, applications and web pages of the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources. If you do not find what you are looking for on our website, the Geoportal can be worth a look. There, you can, for instance, search for data sets and filter them by topic, keyword, year and data type. In addition, the BGR Geoviewer, integrated within the Geoportal, is especially insightful. With the Geoviewer, you can map and project data on various subjects, create descriptive cartographic representations and engage with them in an interactive way.
The maps and data provided by BGR generally cover the geoscientific topics of the sub-departments and are the result of the research done by BGR and its employees.
Among the specialist topics and focus areas of the BGR sub-departments are the following:
Natural Resources
Groundwater
Soil
Geochemistry
Geology
Geophysics
Final Disposal of Radioactive Waste
Underground Space for Storage and Economic Use
Nuclear Test Ban & Geo-Hazards
Polar Research and Geology
International Cooperation
You can find more detailed information about the work of our sub-departments via the navigation bar under “Topics”. The maps and data from the sub-departments for each topic can be found under “Products” or via this overview page.
The BGR Geoportal offers such data for which BGR owns the distribution rights, i.e. which were produced by BGR or where BGR contributed to their development or compilation. This generally applies to geoscientific maps from the federal territory on a scale of 1:200,000 and smaller as well as maps within the European context. The majority of these map data are available for free use as a Web Map Service (WMS).
Generally, BGR offers digital data in the following formats:
Shapefile for vector data, as long as the data base is based on vector data
Raster data with a low resolution to provide an overall view of the map sheet as a JPEG with 150 dpi
Raster data with a high resolution without a map frame as a GeoTIFF with 600 dpi, as long as the data base allows for such a resolution
Raster data with a high resolution to provide an overall view of the map sheet as a PDF
Downloading digital files on the BGR website or Geoportal is generally free of charge.
Geoscientific data and maps on a scale bigger than 1:200,000 are subject to the responsibility of the geological services of the respective federal states. In order to obtain such products, please contact the relevant State Office directly.
For printed map sheets, please contact ILH Internationales Landkartenhaus, GeoCenter TMS GmbH, preferably via e-mail:
When ordering print products via our commission merchant for printed maps Internationales Landkartenhaus (ILH) Stuttgart, you have to pay the costs for the respective product as well as any fees or shipping costs incurred.
Are you looking for a specific map or data sets relating to a certain subject, but have not found the right result? The listed maps, data and information on the pages of the topic areas can be quite extensive. If you do not immediately find what you are looking for, we recommend searching the page by relevant keyword (e.g. topic, region or similar) by using the search function of the browser (shortcut Crtl + F).
Alternatively, you can use the internal search function of this website – accessible via the magnifying glass icon at the top right or here. There, you can type in a search keyword and filter the results by topic, document type and time period.
Another useful service when looking for maps and data sets is the BGR Geoportal – particularly the integrated Geoviewer for maps.
