April 23rd, 2020
GfK releases new digital maps for Germany, Austria and Switzer-land

Updated 2020 maps for Germany, Austria and Switzerland

Bruchsal, Germany – GfK has updated its digital maps for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The new 2020 maps reflect the hundreds of administrative and postcode changes that have occurred since the last release. Up-to-date digital maps are the basis for carrying out accurate geographic analyses of company and market data in geomarketing software and business intelligence systems.

GfK’s more than 80 digital maps for Germany, Austria and Switzerland have been updated to reflect the latest status and are available for all official regional levels. There have been hundreds of postcode and administrative changes in these areas due to dissolved and newly created regions as well as boundary and name alterations. GfK’s Geomarketing experts have also updated the corresponding market data on GfK Purchasing Power as well as population and household figures for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Precise and up-to-date digital maps are important to companies from all industries, because they are a prerequisite for carrying out accurate geocoding and geographic analyses. “There are countless changes every year to postcode and administrative regions throughout the world,” explains Klaus Dittmann, head of cartography for GfK’s Geomarketing solution area. “Hundreds of these changes happened last year in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Our annually updated maps ensure that our clients are able to work with the latest data and successfully carry out accurate geographic analyses.”

GfK’s digital maps are used by companies from all sectors to support a broad range of applications, including evaluating expansion opportunities and branch networks, locating target groups and market potential for marketing campaigns, estimating and analyzing risk in the insurance industry, and planning efficient sales, delivery and service regions.

2020 changes in Germany

administrative:

• municipalities: Sixty-three municipalities – mostly in the federal states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Thuringia – were dissolved, while eight were newly created. There have been boundary changes in 29 municipalities due to annexations and municipal reapportioning. Three municipalities underwent an ID change, while two municipalities underwent name changes. There were also 40 boundary corrections. The total number of municipalities changed from 11,058 (on 01.01.2019) to 11,003 (on 01.01.2020).

postal:

• Five-digit postcodes: Eight postcodes were dissolved and three were newly created. There were 312 boundary changes due to reapportioning.

2020 changes in Austria

administrative:

• districts: A boundary change occurred in one district.
• municipalities: One municipality was dissolved. There were two ID changes, one name change and one boundary change. The total number of municipalities changed from 2,118 (on 01.01.2019) to 2,117 (on 01.01.2020).
• enumeration districts: Twenty-one enumeration districts underwent an ID change and one underwent a boundary change.

postal:

• Four-digit postcodes: Three new four-digit postcodes were created and 14 boundary changes occurred due to municipal reapportioning.

2020 changes in Switzerland

administrative:

• municipalities: Thirteen municipalities were dissolved and three were newly created. This reduced the number of municipalities from 2,225 (on 01.01.2019) to 2,215 (on 01.01.2020).

postal:

• Six-digit postcodes: Three six-digit postcodes were dissolved, one underwent a name change and 128 boundary changes or corrections were carried out due to municipal reapportioning.
• Four-digit postcodes: There were 16 name corrections and 69 boundary changes or corrections due to municipal reapportioning.

Coverage, features and formats

The new map editions offer comprehensive coverage, seamlessly fitting and overlap-free boundaries, complete national and local place-name attributions and infinite zoom capability.

Like all of GfK’s digital maps, the new map editions for Germany, Austria and Switzerland are available in all standard map formats, including *.shp (ESRI), *.tab (MapInfo), *.gdb (GeoDatabase) and *.lay (GfK). The maps are also available in the Oracle (Spatial) database format for use in Oracle Business Intelligence applications.

The maps for all three countries (or for another European country of choice) as well as seamlessly fitting, up-to-date GfK purchasing power data are standard components of RegioGraph 2020, GfK’s new geomarketing software solution.

These maps are part of GfK’s cartographic coverage of 240 countries, the largest collection of digital administrative and postcode maps available on the market.

Additional information on GfK’s worldwide digital maps can be found here.

Print-quality illustrations can be found here.

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