The BUEK5000 is derived form the landuse stratified soil map of Germany at scale 1:1,000,000 by aggregation, focused on information about the parent material, and generalization. The maps shows 20 soil (23) legend units with polygons of at least 64 square kilometers.

Which salt formations are suitable for storing hydrogen or compressed air? In the InSpEE-DS research project, scientists developed requirements and criteria for the assessment of suitable sites even if their exploration is still at an early stage and there is little knowledge of the salinaries’ structures. Scientists at DEEP.KBB GmbH in Hanover, worked together with their project partners at the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources and the Leibniz University Hanover, Institute for Geotechnics Hanover, to develop the planning basis for the site selection and for the construction of storage caverns in flat layered salt and multiple or double saliniferous formations. Such caverns could store renewable energy in the form of hydrogen or compressed air. While the previous project InSpEE was limited to salt formations of great thickness in Northern Germany, salt horizons of different ages have now been examined all over Germany. To estimate the potential, depth contour maps of the top and the base as well as thickness maps of the respective stratigraphic units and reference profiles were developed. Information on compressed air and hydrogen storage potential were given for the identified areas and for the individual federal states. The web service "Information system for flat layered salt" gives access to this data. The scale of display is limited to a minimum of 1:300.000. This geographic information is product of a BMWi-funded research project "InSpEE-DS" running from the year 2015 to 2019. The acronym stands for "Information system salt: planning basis, selection criteria and estimation of the potential for the construction of salt caverns for the storage of renewable energies (hydrogen and compressed air) - double saline and flat salt layers".

The presented map at scale 1:5,000,000 shows the distribution of 15 soil parent material groups in Germany with polygons of at least 64 square kilometers. Parent material is the rock, from which soil is formed. It was derived from the landuse use stratified soil map of Germany at scale 1:1,000,000. The version 3.0 of the map is based on the Digital Landscape Model 1:1,000,000 (DLM1000) of the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy.

The map of the available water holding capacity in Germany gives an overview of the amount of water in a soil that is normally available for plant growth. The map shows the available water from the surface to effective rooting depth, which is derived from land use and soli data. The method is published in the Bodenkundliche Kartieranleitung KA4 (1994) and in the documentation of Ad-hoc-AG Boden (representing the soil experts of the geological services of the German federal states). The land use information is taken from the CORINE Land Cover data set (2006).

The first country wide soil map at a scale of 1:1,000,000 (BUEK1000) has been compiled on the basis of published soil maps of the former German Democratic Republic and the pre 1990 federal states of Germany. To do this, it was necessary to match the soil systems used in East and West Germany and to develop standardized descriptions of soil units. A relatively homogeneous map has resulted, which permits uniform assessment of the soils throughout Germany. The map shows 71 soil mapping units, described in the legend on the basis of the German and FAO soil systems. Each soil unit has been assigned a characteristic soil profile (Leitprofil) as an aid to map interpretation. For the first time the subdivision of the country into 12 soil regions has been represented on the map. This subdivision was coordinated with the state Geological Surveys. These soil regions will represent the highest hierarchic level of nation wide soil maps in future. The colours of soil units correspond to the standards of the 'Bodenkundliche Kartieranleitung' (KA 3; Guidelines for Soil Mapping). The various hues characterize differences in relief or soil humidity. The BUEK1000 was produced digitally. It is an important part of the spatial database integrated in the Soil Information System currently being established at the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (FISBo BGR). It can be used together with the characteristic soil profiles to derive thematic maps related to nation wide soil protection. The scale of the BUEK1000 makes it especially suitable for small scale evaluations at federal or EU level.

The map series General Geological Map of the Federal Republic of Germany 1:200,000 (GÜK200) is the result of cooperation between the State Geological Surveys of the Federal Republic of Germany (SGD), the Geological Surveys of neighbouring countries and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR). The GÜK200 displays the surface geology of Germany and adjacent areas of neighbouring countries on 55 map sheets. The map sheets show the regional dissemination of more than 3800 geological units. The geological units contain information on stratigraphy (age), genesis and petrography (composition) of the rocks. Each printed/scanned map sheet contains one or several geological cross-sections which give an insight into the subsurface. The digital data of the map series are stored separately for each map sheet. According to this geological units/polygons, their boundaries, tectonic linear elements and, if present, ice sheet boundaries are saved as a discrete layer in a shapefile for the single map sheets. The attributes of the geological units contain information – like in the printed map sheets – on stratigraphy, genesis and petrography of the rocks.

The BUEK2000 Version 1.0 was compiled from the BÜK1000 map by a process of generalization. The number of soil mapping units in the legend was reduced from 72 to 60 by aggregation of those units showing similar dominamt soils into single units. The map combined with selected soil profile pictures/graphics and information about soil history, soil classification and soil mapping in Germany is one fundamental part of the Hydrolocical Atlas of Germany (HAD). The Version 2.0, based on the BUEK2000N, Version 2.3, was cartographically adapted to a new base map.

The map shows the distribution of typical soil types (soil texture) in the topsoils of Germany. Typical is used in the term of areally dominating. The map visualizes the results of the project that are documented in a BGR report (Bodenarten der Böden Deutschlands; BGR Archiv, Nr. 0127305). The soil texture data from the analysis of the particle size distribution for 16,132 sites in Germany were classified after the legend units of land use-stratified soil map of Germany 1: 1,000,000 (BÜK1000N V2.3) and mean soil texture were calculated. Considering the large heterogeneity in the data and the resulting uncertaintly in the precision for a site the depiction of the obtained soil texture is presented at the level of the soil types group, according to the German soil classification system (KA5).

The BUEK3000 is prepared by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) for the National Atlas of Germany. Based on the generalized and aggregated soil map 1:2,000,000, it shows 43 mapping units with information about soil texture, parent material, dominant and associated soils.

The Soil Map 1:250,000 (BUEK250), the digital successor to the Soil Map 1:200,000 (BUEK200), provides a detailed, nationwide standardized and comprehensive information basis for cross-state statements on soil use and soil protection in Germany. The present graphic dataset, version 6.0, is essentially based on the BUEK200, which was developed by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) in cooperation with the State Geological Surveys (SGD) of the federal states. It is graphically free of sheet sections and describes the distribution and association of soils on the basis of a total of 2171 legend units. The detailed pedological information is stored separately in a relational database and can be linked to the BUEK250 graphic dataset via the GEN_ID data field.