Digital Topographic Maps

Digital topographic maps (DTK) offer geo-topographical base information in the form of digital raster data. They are updated and provided by the survey agencies of the states and the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) at scales 1 : 25,000 to 1 : 1,000,000. These are supplied in the form of diverse single layers classified by cartographic element or as one coloured sum layer together with the complete map image.

There are two basic types of DTK:

  • traditional digital topographic maps created by the scanning of analogue originals and computer-aided updating to raster data format (termed DTK-V or "preliminary edition") and
  • new digital topographic maps, which have a new graphical representation and a new layer classification and which are derived from a corresponding vector-based Digital Landscape Model (DLM) in raster data format (the so-called DTK).

DTK-Vs will no longer be created as ATKIS is further refined and the new DTKs become increasingly available.