Modern land-use planners have to deal with a flood of information, for example special thematic maps, which leads to congestion and complicates the planning procedures. Even an adept planner who may have to resolve conflicts may find that coping with the flood is beyond his capacity. For this reason, the contributions from the geosciences have to be clear-cut, the language of explanation must be easily understandable, and the map arrangements should be clear and precise. The Geoscientific Map of the Natural Environment's Potential (GMNEP) was prepared and published by the Geological Survey in Hannover, Federal Republic of Germany, and adapted by the IUGS Map Commission for that purpose. It consists of a basal set of maps, such as geological, soil and ground-water maps, surficial- and subsurface-resources maps and geological-engineering maps. In a second step, these maps are translated into land-use claim maps, indicating the specific possibilities of land use. When such claim maps are placed one over the other, areas of conflict become apparent between the various interests involved in the utilization of the environmental potential. As a final step in making preparations for planning, a GMNEP Utilization Map (GMNEPU) is prepared from these conflict maps. This final map is the contribution of the geoscientists to planning - an interpretation of the facts at their command in a form more comprehensible to the planner than ever before.