The relief of the earth's surface is a major controlling factor for ecological processes and a key indicator of the distribution patterns of important geological factors such as soil, rock and water. On the basis of a digital elevation model with a grid size of 250 meters, the company scilands GmbH in Göttingen produced on behalf of BGR the geomorphographic map of Germany. The programs SARA (System for Automatic Terrain Analysis) and SADO (System for Analysis and Discretization of Surfaces) determined 25 discrete geomorphograpic units (sink areas, closed hollow forms, slope areas, parietal areas, overlay forms) in four different landscape areas (North German Lowland, highland, Alpine foothills and Alps).