May 3, 2024

Will Germany open all cadastral / parcel data? New EU regulation 2023/138 and its impact on forestry.

Germany is divided into 65 million parcels!

and we know that already thanks to the mandatory publication of parcel data.

germany parcel data opening revealed that there are 65 milion parcels of land in whole country.

What exactly the EU regulation 2023/138 will change for forest owners and the development of forestry? How does your private information relate to data protection? What added value does this new regulation offer for the digitalisation of your forestry operations, organisations or associations?

Germany is implementing Regulation 2023/138

At the moment WoodsApp uses cadastral data for only 8 of germans federal states. For example Saxony, Thuringia or Brandenburg provide parceldata officially and they already profit more from Digitalisation. Happily we will be able to work with all federal states soon: the “IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) 2023/138” obliges EU member states to make geodata on certain topics publicly available.

The datasets include, for example: property boundaries, transportation networks, aerial photographs, protected areas, land cover, geology, buildings, land use.

In Germany, the relevant geodata is to be made available by the federal states by June 2024. This includes also the parcels of land owned by forest owners.

The parcel boundaries and numbers will be made public, but don´t be afraid! Your tree populations or owner names still stay private! We understand how the privacy of your sensitive data is and fortunately EU regulators understand it too this time.

My parcel is in one of these 8 states. Can I see my cadastral data now?

If you’re one of the happy owners in Berlin. Brandenburg, Hamburg, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt or Thuringia, then you can see your parcel already in WoodsApp FREE mobile application. Download WoodsApp now

Or if you’re not so lucky you can leave your email and we’ll reach you after data opening in Germany & Austria.

Is your land in Germany or Austria? If yes, then we’ve got a free solution for you: WoodsApp FREE version. If your land is in a different EU country – let us know and we will contact you when WoodsApp will be available in your country.

Why are these parcel data sets being released?

The release of these datasets is intended to support the forestry sector in developing resilient and adaptable strategies. If neighbouring parcels of land are known, forestry cooperatives (german: FBGen, FWZs), private companies or forest owners can cooperate better with each other.

The digital overview of the parcels helps, for example, to determine parcel boundaries. In addition, you could even use an exact parcel number to contact neighbouring forest owners at the responsible office. Of course, there must be a reason for such a request.

What challenges does this pose?

The European Union’s INSPIRE directive was created to improve the availability of geodata in Europe, make it more usable and achieve harmonization among the member states.

In theory, the data sets should be harmonized between member states and their respective federal states.

In practice, however, data is published in different formats, data structures and on different platforms.

Germany alone has 65 million parcels. If there are so many, how can you possibly find your woodparcel and use that information? 

“At WoodsApp, we bring this multitude of different data into a common format, called harmonization, and make it available to you in our practical mobile and web application.”

We spend 25 years collecting forestry land data, combining them to satellite geolocated snapshots that can help land owners get better profit from their forests.

Now we’re heading new era of open parcel data in Germany and we decided to share some of this data for every WoodsApp user for free (on ios & android)- so every forest owner can see how that information can be helpful.

besides of parcel data you can also check your forest vitality data but this is a topic for another story.

For which landowners will the data-opening make the biggest impact?

From summer 2024, users from all over Germany and Austria will be able to find their parcels on WoodsApp and assign them to their profile. Smallest changes will be for land owners from 8 federal states where data are already opened (actually you can see your parcel data):

And the biggest changes will be for those owning land in:

WoodsApp application that lets you see those opened data is fully FREE but if you want to get those digitalisation tools work for you and use knowledge that we collected from last 25 years you can try WoodsApp SMART – you will then be able to use the vitality map to see how healthy their forest is and plan other important steps, such as preventative measures against the spread of the bark beetle, to preserve their forest.

What if I'm a forestry alliance member?

There is also WoodsApp PRO version for forest alliances that wants to be ahead of their competitors and use opportunities of changing world. Maybe your organisation is already here – just ask them. If not then you can easily ask to implement WoodsAppPRO version for Alliances.

Register here for a 14 days trial or contact Valentine Streif for more information.