The World-wide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessment Programme (WHYMAP) provides data and information about the earth´s major groundwater resources. The World Karst Aquifer Map (WOKAM) allows a more precise global quantification of karst systems. The map will help to increase awareness of karst groundwater resources in the context of global water issues and will serve as a basis for other karst-related research questions at global scales: for example those related to climate change, biodiversity, food production, geochemical cycles and urbanisation.

The WMS SuK-Nord (INSPIRE) shows the geological distribution of aggregates (sand and gravel) in Northern Germany, especially north of the southernmost maximum of the Scandinavian inland ice sheet (Saalian and Elsterian glaciation). According to the Data Specification on Mineral Resources (D2.8.III.21) and Geology (D2.8.II.4_v3.0) the map provides INSPIRE-compliant data. The WMS GK2000 Lagerstätten (INSPIRE) contains the following layers: MR.MineralOccurence.Commodity represents the distribution of sand and gravel. GE.GeomorphologicFeature shows the southernmost maximum of the Scandinavian inland ice sheet (Saalian and Elsterian glaciation).

The World-wide Hydrogeological Mapping and Assessment Programme (WHYMAP) provides data and information about the earth´s major groundwater resources. The Map of Global Groundwater Vulnerability to Floods and Droughts indicates the vulnerability level of groundwater resources of the earth. It presents the intrinsic vulnerability of groundwater systems and the sensitivity or resistance of those systems to natural disasters.

The WMS KOR250 (INSPIRE) in the scale of 1:250,000 shows occurrences and deposits of mineral resources in Germany, which lie close to the Earth’s surface, i.e. can be mined in open-pits, quarries or near-surface mines. These mineral resources include industrial minerals, aggregates, peat, lignite, oil shales, and natural brines. The map is derived from the KOR250, the digital successor of the map series KOR200 „Map of Near-Surface Deposits of the Federal Republic of Germany 1:200,000”, which has been published since 1984. The KOR200 and KOR250 have been published by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources together with the State Geological Surveys of the federal states on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Primary purpose of the KOR250 is to display Germany’s potential of domestic raw materials in a comparable way. The explanations given in the printed booklets accompanying the KOR200 are not available in the digital KOR250. In the KOR250 besides the defined deposits and differently coloured areas of raw materials, "active mines" (= operations) at time of publication or "focal points of several active mines" are marked with one symbol each. These mines are not included in the KOR250 (INSPIRE) as often the headquarters of the mining company and not the mining site itself is displayed as well as in many regions the dataset is outdated. As the map sheets of the KOR200 have been generated over more than three decades the timeliness of data is extremely different. For more detail, the current large-scale raw material maps of the Federal State Geological Surveys should always be consulted. The point data displayed in KOR250 (INSPIRE) indicate very small, but worth mentioning prospects of certain raw materials. The WMS KOR250 (INSPIRE) contains the two layers MR.MineralOccurence.Commodity.Polygon (mineral resources as polygons) and MR.MineralOccurence.Commodity.Point (mineral resources as points). Via the getFeatureInfo request the user obtains additional information on the mineral resources. Notes: The colouring of the raw material occurrences in the KOR250 (INSPIRE) largely corresponds to the colouring of the original KOR250. In the INSPIRE Data Specification on Mineral Resources (D2.8.III.21) there are no portrayal rules for building raw materials and dimension stones, which constitute a large part of the raw material occurrences. It should be noted that according to the INSPIRE commodity code list, most magmatites and metamorphites were assigned to the two values "granite" and "basalt". From a geological point of view and with regard to its origin, this assignment is often misleading. For more information on the outcropping rock of a specific raw material occurrence, the German name from the original KOR250 was mapped to the attribute name of the class GeologicFeature. Link KOR200: https://www.bgr.bund.de/EN/Themen/Min_rohstoffe/Projekte/Rohstoffverfuegbarkeit_laufend_en/KOR_200_en.html

The WMS GK2750 Geology (INSPIRE) represents the surface geology of Germany on a scale of 1:2,750,000. According to the Data Specification on Geology (D2.8.II.4_v3.0) the geological map provides INSPIRE-compliant data. The WMS GK2750 Geology (INSPIRE) contains layers of the geologic units (GE.GeologicUnit), faults (GE.GeologicFault) and marginal position of the ice shield and the impact crater Nördlinger Ries (GE. GeomorphologicFeature) displayed correspondingly to the INSPIRE portrayal rules. The geologic units are represented graphically by stratigraphy (GE.GeologicUnit.AgeOfRocks) and lithology (GE.GeologicUnit.Lithology). For different geochronologic minimum and maximum ages, e.g. Upper Devonian - Permian, the portrayal is defined by the colour of the geochronologic minimum age (olderNamedAge). In case of the geologic units the user obtains detailed information via the getFeatureInfo request on the lithology, stratigraphy (age) and genesis (event environment and event process).

Which salt formations are suitable for storing hydrogen or compressed air? In the InSpEE-DS research project, scientists developed requirements and criteria for the assessment of suitable sites even if their exploration is still at an early stage and there is little knowledge of the salinaries’ structures. Scientists at DEEP.KBB GmbH in Hanover, worked together with their project partners at BGR and the Leibniz University Hanover, Institute for Geotechnics, to develop the planning basis for the site selection and for the construction of storage caverns in flat layered salt and multiple or double saliniferous formations. Such caverns could store renewable energy in the form of hydrogen or compressed air. While the previous project InSpEE was limited to salt formations of great thickness in Northern Germany, salt horizons of different ages have now been examined all over Germany. To estimate the potential, depth contour maps of the top and the base as well as thickness maps of the respective stratigraphic units were developed. Due to the present INSPIRE geological data model, it was necessary, in contrast to the original dataset, to classify the boundary lines of the potential storage areas in the Zechstein base and thickness layers, whereby the classification of these lines was taken from the top Zechstein layer. Consequently, the boundary element Depth criterion 2000 m (Teufe-Kriterium 2000 m) corresponds on each level to the 2000 m depth of Top Zechstein. However, the boundary of national borders and the boundary of the data basis could not be implemented in the data model and are therefore not included in the dataset. Information on compressed air and hydrogen storage potential is given for the identified areas and for the individual federal states. According to the Data Specification on Geology (D2.8.II.4_v3.0) the content of InSpEE-DS (INSPIRE) is stored in 18 INSPIRE-compliant GML files: InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Isopachs_Zechstein.gml contains the Zechstein isopachs. InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Isobaths_Top_Zechstein.gml and InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Isobaths_Basis_Zechstein.gml contain the isobaths of the top and basis of Zechstein. The three files InSpEE_DS_GeologicStructure_ThicknessMap_Zechstein, InSpEE_DS_GeologicStructure_Top_Zechstein and InSpEE_DS_GeologicStructure_Basis_Zechstein represent the faults of the Zechstein body as well as at the top and at the basis of the Zechstein body. InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Boundary_element_Potential_areas_Zechstein.gml contains the boundary elments of the potential areas at the top and the basis of Zechstein as well as of the Zechstein body. The three files InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Uncertainty_areas_ThicknessMap_Zechstein.gml, InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Uncertainty_areas_Top_Zechstein.gml, InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Uncertainty_areas_Basis_Zechstein.gml represent the uncertainty areas of the Zechstein body as well as at the top and at the basis of the Zechstein body. InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Potentially_usable_storage_areas_Storage_potential_in_the_federal_states.gml comprises the areas with storage potential for renewable energy in the form of hydrogen and compressed air. The six files InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Salt_distribution_in_Germany_Malm.gml, InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Salt_distribution_in_Germany_Keuper.gml, InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Salt_distribution_in_Germany_Muschelkalk.gml, InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Salt_distribution_in_Germany_Roet.gml, InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Salt_distribution_in_Germany_Zechstein.gml and InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_Salt_distribution_in_Germany_Rotliegend.gml represent the salt distribution of the respective stratigraphic unit. InSpEE_DS_GeologicUnit_General_salt_distribution.gml represents the general salt distribution in Germany. This geographic information is product of a BMWi-funded research project "InSpEE-DS" running from the year 2015 to 2019. The acronym stands for "Information system salt: planning basis, selection criteria and estimation of the potential for the construction of salt caverns for the storage of renewable energies (hydrogen and compressed air) - double saline and flat salt layers".

Compilation of the European Pre-Quaternary marine geology (section of Germany). Project partners are the national geological services of the participating countries. The map consists of data at highest available spatial resolution, map scale („multi-resolution“-concept) and data completeness vary depending on the project partner (as of 2016 September). According to the Data Specification on Geology (D2.8.II.4_v3.0) the geological map provides INSPIRE-compliant data. The WMS EMODnet-DE Pre-Quaternary (INSPIRE) contains layers of the geologic units (GE.GeologicUnit) displayed correspondingly to the INSPIRE portrayal rules. The geologic units are represented graphically by stratigraphy (GE.GeologicUnit.AgeOfRocks) and lithology (GE.GeologicUnit.Lithology). The portrayal of the lithology is defined by the first named rock or rock group. Via the getFeatureInfo request the user obtains detailed information on the lithology, stratigraphy (age) and genesis (event environment and event process).

The WMS GK2000 Geologie (INSPIRE) represents the surface geology of Germany and adjacent areas on a scale of 1:2,000,000. According to the Data Specification on Geology (D2.8.II.4_v3.0) the geological map provides INSPIRE-compliant data. The WMS GK2000 Geologie (INSPIRE) contains layers of the geologic units (GE.GeologicUnit), faults (GE.GeologicFault) and marginal position of the ice shield as well as the impact craters Nördlinger Ries and Steinheimer Becken (GE. GeomorphologicFeature) displayed correspondingly to the INSPIRE portrayal rules. The geologic units are represented graphically by stratigraphy (GE.GeologicUnit.AgeOfRocks) and lithology (GE.GeologicUnit.Lithology). For different geochronologic minimum and maximum ages, Upper Devonian - Permian, the portrayal is defined by the colour of the geochronologic minimum age (olderNamedAge). In case of the geologic units the user obtains detailed information via the getFeatureInfo request on the lithology, stratigraphy (age) and genesis (event environment and event process).

The IGME5000-DE (INSPIRE) represents the pre-quaternary bedrock geology (section of Germany) of the European map on a scale of 1:5,000,000. According to the Data Specification on Geology (D2.8.II.4_v3.0) the geological map provides INSPIRE-compliant data. The WMS IGME5000-DE contains layers of the geologic units (GE.GeologicUnit) and faults (GE.GeologicFault) mostly displayed according to the INSPIRE portrayal rules. The geologic units are represented graphically by stratigraphy (GE.GeologicUnit.AgeOfRocks) and lithology (GE.GeologicUnit.Lithology). For different geochronologic minimum and maximum ages, e.g. Ordovician - Silurian, the portrayal is defined by the color of the geochronologic minimum age (olderNamedAge). The portrayal of the lithology is defined by the first named rock or rock group. In case of the geologic units the user obtains detailed information via the getFeatureInfo request on the lithology and stratigraphy (age).

The WMS MSSP-EEZ (INSPIRE) represents marine seismic survey profiles for the German EEZ. During the period from 1996 to 2007 five cruises operated by BGR acquired seismic lines from the German EEZ. The aim of these cruises was a detailed survey of the geological structure of the seabed from the North Sea and Baltic Sea. According to the Data Specification on Geology (D2.8.II.4_v3.0, subtopic Geophysics) the content of the information with respect to the seismic profiles is INSPIRE-compliant. The WMS MSSP-EEZ (INSPIRE) contains for each cruise one layer, e.g. GE.seismicLine.pq2. The expeditions are displayed correspondingly to the INSPIRE portrayal rules. Via the getFeatureInfo request the user obtains the content of the INSPIRE attributes platformType und profileType. Additionally, the WMS contains a campaign layer (GE.2DSeismicSurvey) with the INSPIRE attributes campaignType and surveyType.