Geozones and the dipul map: how to check no-fly zones for drones

The new drone is in your backpack, the spot on the Elbe surely looks great from above – but are you even allowed to take off here? In Germany, a map mainly answers this question: the map tool of the Digital Platform for Unmanned Aviation, dipul for short. There you see the geozones in which drones may only fly under conditions or not at all. This guide explains which areas the law provides for, how to use the dipul map step by step, what the zones in control zones that have applied since August 2026 mean, and where the map reaches its limits.

Geozones and dipul: the short answer

A geozone – in the law a “geographical area” – is a part of the airspace in which drone operation is restricted or tied to conditions. In principle, airspace in Germany is free for drones as long as no regulation says otherwise. The most important of these regulations is § 21h paragraph 3 of the Air Traffic Regulations (Luftverkehrs-Ordnung, LuftVO), which defines eleven area types. They apply to the open and the specific category, so also to hobby pilots with a mini drone.

Where exactly these areas lie is shown by the dipul map tool of the Federal Ministry of Transport. You set a point or draw a circle around your takeoff site, and the map lists all areas that apply there – with altitude limits and legal basis. In addition, you have to keep control zones, restricted flight areas (ED-R) and temporary closures in view.

The eleven geozones in § 21h LuftVO

EU Implementing Regulation 2019/947 allows every member state to define geographical areas. Germany has done this in § 21h LuftVO. The conditions differ widely: some areas are accessible with the consent of the operator or owner, others only in the “specific” category or with a clearance from air traffic control.

No.	Area	Lateral distance	When a flight is permitted (simplified)
1	Airfields that are not airports	1.5 km around the boundary	“Specific” category or consent of the air supervision, flight operations officer or operator
2	Airports	1,000 m around the boundary plus a 5 km corridor beyond the runway ends	“Specific” category only
3	Industrial facilities, correctional facilities, military facilities, central energy facilities, protection level 4 laboratories	100 m	express consent of the responsible body or the operator
4	Constitutional bodies, federal and state authorities, embassies, international organizations, police and security authorities	100 m	express consent
5	Federal trunk roads, federal waterways, railway facilities	100 m	among other things with consent or if the flight altitude is always lower than the lateral distance (at least 10 m)
6	Nature reserves, national parks, certain Natura 2000 sites	area boundary	consent of the nature conservation authority or deviating state law; recreational flights are excluded without consent
7	Residential properties	property	consent of the owner or user, exception for devices up to 250 g without recording and transmitting function
8	Outdoor pools, bathing beaches and similar facilities	grounds	only outside operating or bathing hours
9	Control zones	entire zone	only with air traffic control clearance
10	Hospitals	100 m	express consent of the operator
11	Accident and emergency sites, registered military exercises	100 m	consent of the incident commander

For spotters, numbers 1, 2 and 9 are the decisive ones: airfields, airports and control zones. What exactly applies around the big commercial airports is covered in detail in the guide Drones near airports. But zones also lurk away from the fence: if you want to take off at a highway bridge, above a train station or at a lake, you quickly end up in one of the other areas. The details on residential and protected areas are in the article Drones over residential areas, crowds and nature reserves.

The dipul map tool step by step

You reach the map tool via dipul.bund.de or directly at maptool-dipul.dfs.de; the platform is operated under the responsibility of the Federal Ministry of Transport. You don’t need an account to use the map. This is how you check a takeoff site:

Using map layers deliberately

In the “Map layers” menu, the areas are sorted into groups and subgroups that you can show and hide individually or all at once. This is handy when the map in metropolitan areas gets cluttered with so many areas. Important to know: the query via a set point or circle also lists areas that you have just hidden. So you don’t miss anything just because a layer is off. Available backgrounds include a grayscale, a night and a satellite view.

Weather in the map tool

According to dipul, the weather forecast is based on the DWD’s ICON-D2 model, which is updated every three hours. Displayed are, among other things, temperature, wind in meters per second, precipitation, cloud cover and humidity; via a selection field you can change the altitude in 50-meter steps. The tool highlights critical values in color – but dipul stresses that this is only a guide. How to read wind and clouds in general for spotting planning is shown in the guide Using Windy and other weather maps.

What the result means

The list of intersecting areas is the core of the query. Three cases are possible:

• “No restrictions”: There is no area recorded in dipul at this point. That is good news, but not a permission. dipul expressly points out that there may be further restrictive factors that the platform does not show.
• One area: You may only fly if you meet the conditions of this area – for example, you have the operator’s consent, stay below an altitude limit or hold a clearance.
• Several areas: If zones overlap, you need the permission of all bodies involved. A typical example is a spot at an airport where the airport area, control zone, federal road and perhaps a nature reserve come together.

Control zones: zones 1 to 4 since August 2026

Control zones are controlled airspace that begins at the ground and surrounds an airfield with air traffic control. How to recognize them on aeronautical charts is explained in the article Airspaces C, D, E, G and control zones. For drones you need an air traffic control clearance there under § 21 LuftVO. For certain flights it is deemed granted automatically – air traffic control calls this a “general clearance”.

As of August 6, 2026, DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung has redrafted these rules for the control zones of the 15 airports where it provides aerodrome control. The basis is the general ruling NfL 2026-1-3960, which replaces the previous rule. Affected are Berlin Brandenburg, Bremen, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Erfurt-Weimar, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne/Bonn, Leipzig/Halle, Munich, Münster/Osnabrück, Nuremberg, Saarbrücken and Stuttgart. Each of these control zones is now divided into an inner and an outer area with four zones:

Zone	Location	Maximum altitude with general clearance
Zone 1 (inner area)	Airport plus 1 km distance and the 5 km corridors along the runways – identical to area no. 2 from § 21h	none – individual clearance always required
Zone 2	within 4 km of the aerodrome reference point, outside zone 1	25 m above aerodrome elevation or above ground, whichever is lower
Zone 3	within 6 km, outside zones 1 and 2	45 m above aerodrome elevation or above ground, whichever is lower
Zone 4	remaining control zone	100 m above aerodrome elevation or 50 m above ground, whichever is higher; if the takeoff site is below aerodrome elevation, 100 m above ground

The altitude figures mean that you have to know the terrain elevation of your takeoff site and the aerodrome elevation. DFS itself works through an example: if the airfield is at 48 meters above sea level and your takeoff site in zone 4 is at 55 meters, you may climb to 93 meters above ground. If the takeoff site is at 105 meters, it would be only 43 meters on paper – then the higher value of 50 meters above ground applies. DFS publishes the zones and aerodrome elevations as a supplement in the aeronautical information publication AIP and on dipul; for terrain elevation it recommends the dipul map tool.

Going higher with a general clearance is possible only close to obstacles, that is, at most 30 meters laterally and 15 meters above an obstacle. On top of that come conditions that DFS summarizes in its information: at least 800 meters of ground visibility, no autonomous operation, no traffic information from the tower and the full responsibility of the remote pilot to give way to manned aircraft. If you want to exceed the altitudes or fly in zone 1, you apply for an individual clearance via ais.dfs.de – usually with 14 days’ lead time and with no entitlement to approval. Only the text of the NfL is binding.

At airfields outside these 15 airports that also have a control zone, the respective local aerodrome control unit is responsible. There, too, there are general rulings, for example from DFS Aviation Services, that deem a clearance granted under conditions. dipul provides the overview on its page about air traffic control clearance. Small airfields without a control zone are protected via area no. 1 with its 1.5 kilometers – how to find them on maps is in the guide Finding small airfields and glider sites on maps.

Restricted flight areas (ED-R)

In addition to the geozones from § 21h there are flight restriction areas, in aviation jargon ED-R (ED is the ICAO prefix for Germany, R stands for “Restricted”). They lie, for example, over military training areas, government buildings or nuclear facilities. The map tool shows them too. For drones, the rule there is: entry only with a transit permit from the Federal Supervisory Authority for Air Navigation Services (BAF). The application goes through a BAF form, and dipul advises allowing at least four weeks for processing. Anyone who enters without a permit commits a criminal offense under § 62 LuftVG – that is a different category from a fine.

Around military airbases, several layers often come together: a military facility with a 100-meter distance, its own control zone and sometimes an ED-R. What applies on the ground in front of military airfields is covered in the article Photographing a military airfield: the rules.

Temporary restrictions: the look on flight day

The map shows the permanent areas. In addition there are time-limited closures, for example for police operations, large events or military purposes. dipul lists such temporary operating restrictions on a page of their own; they are often published via NOTAM, some also via the Nachrichten für Luftfahrer (NfL, German aeronautical notices). How to read NOTAMs and which ones are relevant for you is explained in the guide Reading and understanding NOTAMs.

Check this list on the day of the flight, not the evening before. Police operations in particular show up at short notice and often apply for only a few days.

Where else you find the zones

dipul also offers the geodata as a download and via standardized map services (WFS and WMS). Many third-party apps and drone manufacturers draw on it. That is convenient but has a catch: you don’t always know how current the data is and whether all area types were included. Your drone manufacturer’s geofencing feature doesn’t replace the check either – it doesn’t necessarily show all German areas and knows nothing about consents or clearances.

If an area is shown: who consents

Most geozones are not absolute bans. Depending on the area, you need the consent of the operator (industrial facility, hospital, railway facility), the owner (residential property), the nature conservation authority or air traffic control. According to dipul, anyone who wants to fly in an area whose conditions they cannot meet contacts the aviation authority of the federal state in which the flight takes place. Some states issue general permits, which usually apply for around two years, or have published general rulings; for everything beyond that there are individual permits limited by place, purpose and time. In Bavaria, the Luftämter Nord- and Südbayern (air offices of northern and southern Bavaria) share responsibility, in Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia the regional councils (Bezirksregierungen).

Regardless of that, your basics must be in order: operator registration with the LBA (Germany’s Federal Aviation Office), drone liability insurance, the right A1/A3 proof of competency and, for class-marked drones, the correct classification under C0 to C6. Whether your drone has to transmit remote identification is covered in the guide Remote ID for drones.

Taking the drone abroad

The map tool ends at the border. On a page of its own, however, dipul links the official drone maps of many European countries, including Dronespace for Austria, the map on geo.admin.ch for Switzerland, GoDrone for the Netherlands and Géoportail for France. The basic EU rules apply the same everywhere; each country sets the zones itself. More in the guides Taking your drone on vacation, Flying a drone in Austria and Flying a drone in Switzerland.

Typical mistakes when checking zones

• Checking only the takeoff point: What matters is the entire area in which the drone moves. Use the circle query with a realistic radius and the planned flight altitude.
• Zoomed out too far: If you see no areas on an overview map, you quickly take the area to be free. The zones only appear at a scale of 10 kilometers.
• Confusing the control zone with the airport area: The control zone extends much further than the 1,000-meter zone. Outside zone 1 you may fly with a general clearance, but only up to the altitude of your zone.
• Altitude measured from the wrong reference: In control zones, aerodrome elevation counts in part, not just height above ground. On a hill next to the airport, the permitted altitude shrinks quickly.
• Forgetting temporary closures: The list of current restrictions and the NOTAMs belong to every flight day.
• Third-party app as the last word: It can help, but the official sources are binding.

Spotter and drone: the right division of labor

For plane spotters, the dipul map is above all a tool for understanding why the drone plays no role at Munich Airport, Hamburg Airport or Frankfurt Airport: zone 1, approach corridors and control zones cover exactly the areas where aircraft are low and easy to photograph. Away from those, the drone can still be an asset – for landscape pictures, travel videos or an airfield visit with the operator’s consent. For the pictures at the fence, the telephoto lens remains the tool of choice.

Conclusion

Geozones are clearly regulated in Germany: § 21h LuftVO defines eleven area types, and the dipul map shows where they lie. With search, point and circle queries, altitude information and weather forecast, the map tool answers in a few minutes which conditions apply at your takeoff site. Since August 2026, a fixed zone division with altitude limits has been added in the control zones of the 15 DFS airports. But the map is only the first step: you also have to keep temporary closures, ED-R, consents and the general operating rules in view.