The “Rat deutscher Planetarien” (Council of German Planetariums), which existed only informally until 2011, was for a long time the only association, albeit a non-binding one, primarily of the larger, full-time German-language planetariums.
In addition, a conference called “Arbeitsgemeinschaft deutschsprachiger Planetarien (ADP)” was organized every year since 1977 by annually changing planetariums.
With the foundation of the GDP, this informal cooperation has been put on a new, resilient and legally capable foundation. The main purpose is to facilitate the coordination of joint projects in order to promote research and science as well as their popularization.
The GDP wants to contribute to informing the public about the planetariums and to pointing out their offers. In particular, the GDP wants to strengthen the perception of planetariums as cultural institutions.