German Federal Data Atlas – the Superior Data Catalogue for the German Federal Administration
The German Federal Administration works with exponentially growing databases on a daily basis. A huge amount of resources are tied up in researching, processing and collating relevant data in the diverse administrative landscape. In response to this challenge, the German Federal Data Atlas is creating a metadata catalogue for administrative data.
The Federal Data Atlas was taken offline at the end of 2025, as the framework agreement between the Federal Ministry of Finance and Bundesdruckerei GmbH ended as scheduled on 31 December 2025.
German Federal Data Atlas: First Cross-Departmental Provision of Metadata
The Bundesdruckerei GmbH has been commissioned by the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) to develop the German Federal Data Atlas – a joint metadata catalogue for the Federal Administration – for all federal ministries and subordinate agencies. This is a central instrument in the German Federal Government’s data strategy in the 20th legislative period – intuitive to use, transparent and geared to the needs of employees in the German Federal Administration. The aim is to promote data expertise and provide a better overview of all Federal Administration databases.
The platform visualises metadata that provides information about the characteristics of a database while revealing nothing about its content. For example, users can find out which agency provides a database such as a register in which format and who is responsible for it. This facilitates the cross-departmental searching and exploration of databases. The data atlas is already yielding extensive results : Several hundred databases are now described with metadata in the German Federal Data Atlas and published within the administration. The platform is therefore the first instance of the German Federal Administration creating transparency for databases across all departments.
How the Federal Administration Benefits from Data Atlas
The German Federal Data Atlas increases the efficiency of data research and promotes the flow of information in the Federal Administration. At the same time, it makes it easier for employees in the administration to prepare information in a standardised way, assess its relevance and make it accessible independently within the administration.
Within the data atlas, the relevant data sources for a search query are identified, and links between data sets are shown. Users are guided quickly and intuitively to the desired result and the responsible office.
How the Data Atlas Helps Users in the Administration
The German Federal Data Atlas is an internal platform that is exclusively accessible to employees of the Federal Administration (ministries and their divisions) and tailored to their needs. Using metadata, it clearly displays where each database is available. This makes it easier to search through relevant data and helps anyone seeking to plan and implement data-driven projects. The German Federal Data Atlas is already simplifying the day-to-day work of various professional groups within the Federal Administration:
- It allows data scientists and data engineers at public agencies to improve the structure of their own databases. It also provides them with a quick overview of otherwise unknown databases and the responsible experts.
- Teams involved in specialised procedures can use the data atlas to identify whether there are connections and interfaces with other specialised procedures.
- Data protection officers receive information on the extent to which personal data has been processed in a database.
- Anyone wishing to assess the consequences of a new or amended law can quickly find data sources on relevant topics in the German Federal Data Atlas.
- Employees who answer minor enquiries can use the metadata to find out directly which contact persons can provide which information.
- Anyone wishing to make open data available to civil society or other companies can use the German Federal Data Atlas to see which databases in their own area of responsibility are suitable for this purpose.
- The ministries’ data labs can plan new projects in a more expedient manner thanks to being shown departmental databases in a clearly organised manner.
Increased Data Expertise with the German Federal Administration’s Data Atlas
The amount of relevant data in the German Federal Administration is constantly increasing. If it can be organised efficiently and made accessible to employees in the administration via a shared platform, this will lay the basis for collecting and using the data with the help of automation and AI.
As the central metadata platform of the Federal Administration, the German Federal Data Atlas provides a comprehensive overview of its databases. Thanks to the user-centred platform with its intuitive, clear presentation of data sources, the atlas creates the basis for data-driven, efficient and transparent administration. It puts an end to time-consuming and laborious searching for contact persons and maintenance of duplicate data sets. At the same time, it enables administrative staff to develop and strengthen their data expertise. Anyone working with the German Federal Data Atlas will quickly learn how to find metadata quickly and systematically record it on their own. In addition, the platform is capable of accelerating projects for utilising existing data sets from the outset, as existing relevant data can be easily identified via a systematic search.
Agile development of the data atlas of the German Federal Administration by Bundesdruckerei GmbH
The German Federal Data Atlas is a digitisation project of the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF), developed by Bundesdruckerei GmbH. It serves as an internal metadata platform for the Federal Administration and supports the implementation of the Federal Government’s data strategy (2021 and 2023). Bundesdruckerei GmbH is contributing a wide range of expertise to the development of the data atlas.
Agile development methods were established in interdisciplinary teams right from the very start – at the creation of the concept, the development and evaluation of the prototype and the transition to MVP status. To develop the data atlas, the company is relying on the open data philosophy and integrates technologies such as artificial intelligence and language models. It also brings particular expertise to bear in the areas of anonymisation and pseudonymisation.
The current and future users – the employees of the German Federal Administration – have been closely involved in the entire development process.
Accessibility
While developing the data atlas, Bundesdruckerei GmbH attached great importance to barrier-free implementation. The platform is compatible with the requirements of the Barrier-free Information Technology Ordinance (BITV 2.0).
Questions and Answers about the Project
The data atlas contains a central, clearly visualised metadatabase that provides a standardised, transparent and easily accessible overview of the existing databases in the administration. This makes it easier for employees of the German Federal Administration to identify relevant databases. They also have access to detailed information about the data sets and contact details of contact persons. They can therefore contact the relevant departments more quickly if they wish to use the databases. This increases the efficiency of data utilisation.
The data atlas only contains metadata that describes the databases in functional, technical and organisational terms. Please note: The actual user data is not accessed via the data atlas itself, but only in coordination with the responsible authorities. It is not specified which databases must be catalogued in the data atlas. As a rule, the relevant databases are those of the German Federal Administration that are either processed due to a legal basis or are important for political planning and decision-making processes and government work. Databases that are of interest for fulfilling tasks of other organisational units can be included as well.
The general rule is that there should be no duplicate collection of metadata as part of the project. However, utilising existing information may well be useful. The decisive factor here is whether this information is sufficiently up-to-date, whether its format is suitable and whether the anticipated added value justifies the effort involved in connecting it to the interface of the German Federal Data Atlas.
The experts from the Data Atlas team at Bundesdruckerei GmbH have carried out a thorough technical review of the pro bono expert report published by Prof. Zellhöfer on 1 December 2025 and have reached the following conclusion: The author clearly reviewed only the system’s front end; the back end and the extensive application programming interfaces were not, in any case, part of his evaluation. Those interfaces, in particular, are intended for experienced users and data scientists in the federal ministries and federal authorities.
The system’s functionalities were designed and developed to be interoperable, standardised and based on open-source software. Any expert assessment would therefore need to consider the system holistically. Contrary to the author’s statements, the Federal Data Atlas uses, for example, a knowledge graph and already fulfils the requirements for standards-based metadata modelling in accordance with DCAT-AP.de.
The author’s allegations and opinions, in particular regarding semantics, interoperability and modelling, are therefore unfounded. The search function criticised in the expert report is also available in full through the Data Atlas REST API and meets all requirements for information retrieval. It is evident that the author lacked access to detailed information about the non-public Data Atlas (access to the system is restricted to only staff in the Federal Ministries and higher-level federal authorities in accordance with the contracting authority’s specifications). On page 129 the author himself writes: “As the author was neither involved in the design nor the implementation of the Data Atlas, the expert report was prepared without internal project knowledge”. Apparently, the author was only able to access the Data Atlas production system via an employee of the federal administration and “as part of a cursory visual inspection lasting approx. 30 minutes" (page 66 of the expert report); whether and to what extent the visual inspection was authorised must be determined elsewhere.
Dr Kim Nguyen, Head of Innovation at Bundesdruckerei GmbH, says: “The Data Atlas shows how valuable data-driven work can be. According to the Federal Government’s data strategy, data should be collected and prepared in a way that makes it understandable; according to the coalition agreement, data must flow between authorities, be intelligently linked and rest on a reliable foundation. For the public administration, this means not only collecting data, but understanding it, linking it and making it visible. The Data Atlas does exactly that: It structures information, makes relationships clear and opens the door to better decision-making. It is a step towards an administration that can respond faster, develop smarter policy and act more effectively.”
Do you have any questions about the German Federal Data Atlas?
Write an e-mail to datenatlas@bdr.de.
