What is a Digitales Geländemodell (DGM)?
A Digitales Geländemodell (DGM) is a digital terrain model: a regular grid of ground elevations describing the bare earth, with buildings and vegetation removed. In Germany the DGM is produced by the state surveying offices, primarily from airborne laser scanning, which makes it the official terrain reference. Whenever water, sightlines or earth movement enter an analysis, the DGM is the surface everything else is computed against.
How official is the Digitales Geländemodell?
Legal status
Reference data
An authoritative input for analysis and screening. It carries no legal effect of its own.
The DGM is produced and published by the state surveying offices as official geodata. It is reference data for analysis: authoritative in origin and consistent in structure, but not a substitute for an on-site survey where construction demands one.
What this means for you
For modelling and screening that is precisely what you want: one terrain surface you can compute against nationwide, with provenance you can cite in reports and applications.
What does a Digitales Geländemodell contain?
- Ground elevation: Bare-earth heights in the official German height reference system, with buildings and vegetation removed.
- Regular grid: Elevations on a regular grid, ready for raster analysis in any GIS: slope, aspect, watersheds, viewsheds.
- Grid resolution: The grid spacing of the published model. Resolution varies by state. We state it per delivery rather than quoting one number nationwide.
- Survey vintage: Metadata on when the underlying laser-scanning campaign flew, which varies by state and region.
Every state publishes a DGM, but each surveying office runs its own laser-scanning programme, so grid resolution and survey vintage vary by state, and sometimes within one. We harmonise the extracts into a consistent structure and state resolution and vintage per delivery instead of quoting one flattering nationwide figure.
What is a Digitales Geländemodell used for?
- Drainage and flood modelling on the official bare-earth surface
- Earthworks and cut-and-fill estimates for site development
- Line-of-sight and viewshed analysis for infrastructure and planning
- Terrain suitability screening (slope, aspect and elevation) at portfolio scale
Where does the Digitales Geländemodell come from?
Produced by the state surveying offices from airborne laser scanning and published via their official geoportals. We harmonise the per-state grids.
Which states can you buy the Digitales Geländemodell for?
All 16 federal states. Terrain is one of the datasets every state publishes, and this layer carries it as one consistent grid structure across Germany.
Coverage by federal state
- BBBrandenburgAvailable
- BEBerlinAvailable
- BWBaden-WürttembergAvailable
- BYBavariaAvailable
- HBBremenAvailable
- HEHesseAvailable
- HHHamburgAvailable
- MVMecklenburg-Western PomeraniaAvailable
- NILower SaxonyAvailable
- NWNorth Rhine-WestphaliaAvailable
- RPRhineland-PalatinateAvailable
- SHSchleswig-HolsteinAvailable
- SLSaarlandAvailable
- SNSaxonyAvailable
- STSaxony-AnhaltAvailable
- THThuringiaAvailable
Where the federal state publishes this layer, we carry it: 16 of 16 federal states today. Where it doesn't, we say so.
Coverage gap
Your region of interest isn't covered?
Coverage follows what each state and municipality has actually digitised, so there are real gaps, and they are not always where you would expect. Tell us the region and the layer you need and we will look into what can be sourced for it, including data we do not list today.
Tell us what you needHow can you buy Digitales Geländemodell data?
One unified dataset: Ready for direct integration into your GIS, CAD, or BI tools. Standard formats, documented schema.
Mapular Explorer: Instant planning interface, no GIS setup required. Filter, analyse, and export from your browser.
Frequently asked questions about the Digitales Geländemodell
What is the difference between a DGM and a DOM?
A DGM (Digitales Geländemodell) describes the bare earth with buildings and vegetation removed; a DOM (Digitales Oberflächenmodell) describes the surface including everything standing on it. Flood and earthworks analysis uses the DGM; the difference between the two approximates object heights.
What grid resolution does the DGM have?
Resolution varies by state, because each state surveying office publishes its own model. We state the exact resolution and survey vintage for your area of interest per delivery rather than quoting a single nationwide figure.
Is the DGM suitable for flood modelling?
Yes. The official DGM from laser scanning is the standard terrain input for flood and drainage modelling in Germany. As with any model, verify locally where drainage details such as culverts, walls or recent earthworks decide the result.
Does the DGM include buildings or vegetation?
No. A Digitales Geländemodell describes the bare earth; buildings and vegetation are removed during processing. If you need building geometry on top of the terrain, combine the DGM with our LOD2-Gebäudemodelle layer.
What formats does the DGM come in?
Standard raster and point-grid formats with a documented schema, ready for GIS and modelling tools. If your pipeline expects a specific format or tiling, tell us.
Can I buy DGM data for a single project area?
Yes. The layer covers all 16 states and can be delivered nationwide, per state or clipped to a project area you define, with resolution and vintage stated for that extract.