What does the Erdbebenzonen Deutschland Karte show?
Germany's earthquake zones are defined in DIN EN 1998-1/NA, the national annex to Eurocode 8, which superseded DIN 4149. Zones range from 0 to 3 and scale the seismic action a structure must be designed for. Most of Germany lies in zone 0 or is seismically low; the relevant belts concentrate along the Rhine rift, the Swabian Alb, and the Gera/Vogtland region. Mapular provides the zones as queryable polygons for programmatic site screening.
How binding are Erdbebenzonen in structural design?
Legal status
Reference data
An authoritative input for analysis and screening. It carries no legal effect of its own.
The earthquake zones are defined in DIN EN 1998-1/NA, the German national annex to Eurocode 8 for seismic design, which replaced the earlier DIN 4149. The zoning parametrises a binding design standard. This layer is reference data that makes those zone definitions queryable as geodata.
What this means for you
For your workflow, the zone decides whether seismic design provisions apply to a project and scales the seismic action if they do. As data, it lets you separate the majority of low-seismicity sites from those in zones 1–3 early. The binding seismic verification remains the structural engineer's task.
Which attributes do the Erdbebenzonen include?
Earthquake zone
The seismic zone value from 0 to 3 as defined in DIN EN 1998-1/NA, scaling the seismic action relevant for design.
Zone geometry
The zone boundary as a polygon, so any address or coordinate can be intersected and assigned to exactly one zone.
Federal state
The Bundesland each zone polygon belongs to, for filtering, state-level reporting, and portfolio breakdowns.
Classification basis
A reference to the underlying standard, DIN EN 1998-1/NA (formerly DIN 4149), documenting which zoning scheme the value follows.
Seismicity in Germany is highly regional: large parts of the north and east lie in zone 0 or outside classified zones, while elevated zones concentrate in specific belts. Those run along the Rhine rift, across the Swabian Alb, and around Gera and the Vogtland. Some federal states are almost entirely unaffected, others contain the country's highest zones.
What can you do with Erdbebenzonen as Geodaten?
- Screen nationwide portfolios in one pass: separate the majority of zone-0 sites from those in zones 1–3 where seismic design provisions apply.
- Feed early structural design decisions with a documented zone value before commissioning a detailed seismic analysis for the affected sites.
- Automate feasibility and due-diligence checks for acquisitions in the Rhine rift, Swabian Alb, and Vogtland regions where zones matter most.
- Combine with Mapular's Untergrundklassen layer: zone plus subsoil class together parametrise the seismic action in DIN EN 1998-1/NA.
Where do the Erdbebenzonen come from?
Standardised zone definitions from the German national annex to Eurocode 8, compiled into one consistent, queryable layer covering the whole country.
Which Bundesländer do the Erdbebenzonen cover?
The Erdbebenzonen layer covers all 16 German federal states, including those that lie largely in zone 0, because proving a site is outside elevated zones is itself a screening result worth documenting.
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 do you access the Erdbebenzonen layer?
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 Erdbebenzonen
What are Erdbebenzonen?
Erdbebenzonen are Germany's standardised earthquake zones, defined in DIN EN 1998-1/NA, the national annex to Eurocode 8, which superseded DIN 4149. Zones range from 0 to 3 and scale the seismic action structures must be designed for. Most of Germany lies in zone 0 or low seismicity; elevated zones concentrate in specific regional belts.
Which regions of Germany have elevated earthquake zones?
Elevated earthquake zones in Germany concentrate in a few belts: along the Rhine rift, on the Swabian Alb, and in the Gera/Vogtland region. Large parts of northern and eastern Germany lie in zone 0 or outside classified zones. Whether seismic design provisions apply is therefore a genuinely site-specific question.
What does the earthquake zone determine in structural design?
The earthquake zone under DIN EN 1998-1/NA determines whether seismic design provisions apply to a structure and scales the seismic action (the reference ground motion) used in the verification. In zone 0, seismic design is typically not governing. In zones 1 to 3, seismic loads must be considered with increasing intensity.
How do Erdbebenzonen relate to Untergrundklassen?
In German seismic design under DIN EN 1998-1/NA, the earthquake zone and the geological subsoil class work together. The zone scales the seismic action; the subsoil class (R, S or T) characterises how the local geology influences the ground motion. Both parameters feed the response spectrum used in the verification.
Does the Erdbebenzonen layer replace a seismic verification by an engineer?
No. The layer provides the standardised earthquake zone for any site as reference data, which makes screening and early design decisions fast. Whether and how seismic design provisions apply to a specific structure must be verified by a qualified structural engineer under DIN EN 1998-1/NA and the applicable building regulations.
Why query Erdbebenzonen as geodata instead of the map in the standard?
As geodata, earthquake zones become a per-site attribute: intersect a coordinate with the zone polygons and get the value. That enables portfolio-wide seismic screening, automated due diligence, and consistent documentation across all 16 federal states, none of which is practical when every site must be located manually on the printed zone map.