Maps are being distinguished into frame maps and island maps based on how they are delimited.

Frame maps are typically delimited by a rectangular frame and contain the thematic and topographic information for the whole area that lies within the frame. Nature-related geographic topics as well as historical-territorial topics are frequently depicted using frame maps.

Island maps are limited to the depiction of a political or geographical region. The border of the map is aligned along the border of that region. This type is used if information of only one region is of interest or if the database does not provide any cross-border information.