Suitable criteria are required for the evaluation and representation of natural soil functions and their archival function, as stated in the Federal Soil Protection Law; either on their own or in connection with others, they characterize the respective soil function. The criteria for the evaluation of these soil functions (cf. Maps 01.12) were selected in the context of the drafting of the Berlin soil protection concept (Lahmeyer 2000). For the derivation of these criteria, characteristic values for the individual soil characteristics are required (cf. Maps 01.06). The method to derive individual criteria from soil-scientific characteristic values or other data on the condition and distribution of soil types was also developed by Lahmeyer 2000 and applied experimentally. To be able to apply this method to the entire municipal area, it was somewhat modified and complemented.
Only criteria which could be derived relatively easily using existing information were used for the evaluation of soil functions.