October 22nd, 2020
GfK releases updated maps for all European countries

New Europe Edition 2020/2021 reflects latest changes to Europe’s administrative and postcode boundaries

Bruchsal, Germany – GfK has released its Europe Map Edition 2020/2021, which includes thousands of changes to Europe’s regions. The digital maps render the current administrative and postcode boundaries for 42 European countries. In combination with geomarketing software or business intelligent systems, the maps offer a reliable basis for location-related analyses for companies from all industries.

GfK’s Europe Edition includes digital maps for all of Europe. The maps reflect the latest regional status and feature numerous new details and regional levels. Except for Belarus, Bulgaria, Latvia, Malta and Moldova, changes occurred in all European countries due to boundary adjustments related to newly created or dissolved regions. The new maps also offer a higher level of detail for many countries, especially along coastlines and in cities. With just several exceptions, the included maps offer coverage down to the most detailed postcode and administrative levels for the featured countries. Also available is new 2020 market data on European purchasing power as well as inhabitants and households. Both the maps and market data are available immediately.

“Every year there are numerous territorial changes in Europe because efficiency is crucial for administrative bodies and postal organizations,” explains Klaus Dittmann, head of cartography in GfK’s Geomarketing solution area. “In Norway alone, this year’s territorial reform resulted in more than 10,000 changes, ranging from new and dissolved areas to ID changes as well as border changes. For this reason, we update our maps for Europe annually, offering our customers precise, up-to-date maps and thus an accurate cartographic basis for carrying out geographic analyses, such as planning branch networks and sales territories.”

Outdated postcode boundaries are problematic, because postcodes are the means by which companies and organizations typically geocode their address-related data. For example, if the postcode of a company site changes, any turnover generated by this site would be attributed to the wrong postcode if the underlying postcode boundaries are incorrect or outdated. An up-to-date cartographic basis ensures that all turnover information is correctly geocoded and cross-referenced with other location-specific data.

New additions

GfK’s Europe Edition 2020/2021 reflects the thousands of changes to postcode and administrative levels that occurred in almost all European countries. Below is a country-by-country description of some of the more comprehensive changes:

Czech Republic
The map set for the Czech Republic now includes a map of the country’s 13,075 localities.

•  5-digit postcodes: 2 dissolved and 13 new

Lithuania

The 21 cities Anyksciai, Birzai, Druskininkai, Elektrenai, Garliava, Grigiskes, Joniskis, Jurbarkas, Kursenai, Lentvaris, Naujoji Akmene, Plunge, Prienai, Radviliskis, Raseiniai, Rokiskis, Taurages, Telsiai, Ukmerge, Vilkaviskis and Visaginas have been redesigned.

Netherlands

• neighborhoods: 289 new, numerous boundary changes
•  6-digit postcodes: 889 dissolved and 1,714 new

Norway

Due to a reform, there are numerous changes in Norway’s administrative structure.

• counties: 7 dissolved, numerous ID changes
• economic regions: 4 dissolved, numerous ID changes
• municipalities: 66 dissolved, numerous boundary changes
• tracts: 3 new, 1,125 ID changes, numerous boundary changes
• units: 33 dissolved, 10,116 ID changes, numerous boundary changes
• 4-digit postcodes: 4 dissolved and 44 new, 2 name changes, 80 boundary changes

Portugal
The map set for Portugal now includes a new layer of the country’s 153,086 7-digit postcode areas. The maps also offer a higher level of detail along coastlines.

Sweden

• 5-digit postcodes: 65 dissolved and 186 new, numerous boundary changes

Turkey
The map of Turkey’s districts and neighborhoods has been expanded to include full coverage of the provinces of Ankara, Eskişehir, Bilecik and Bolu. In addition, the districts of Emirdağ, İhsaniye, Bayat, İscehisar and Afyonkarahisar Merkez of the Afyonkarahisar province have been integrated into the layer.

• Districts and neighborhoods: 71 dissolved and 3,229 new, new ID
• 5-digit postcodes: 6 dissolved and 1 new, numerous boundary changes/corrections

Ukraine

The map featuring the country’s three- and five-digit postcode boundaries was expanded to include coverage of the five-digit postcodes for the city of L’viv.

• 5-digit postcodes: 3 dissolved and 79 new, 1 ID change 4 name changes, numerous boundary corrections

United Kingdom

• postcode units: 9,569 new
• postcode unit points: 9,132 new

Availability

The approximately 1,000 maps for 42 European countries are available in all standard map formats, including *.shp (ESRI), *.tab (MapInfo), *.lay (RegioGraph) and Oracle Spatial. With the release of GfK’s Europe Edition 2020/2021, the previously used Windows encoding for shapefiles will be replaced by the more practical Unicode (UTF-8) encoding standard. In addition, the MapInfo TAB format has been changed to the more current MapInfo TAB Extended format. All maps are vector-based and consequently offer infinite zoom and flexible viewing options.

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

Print-quality illustrations can be found here.