A method for the operation of a cleaning appliance automatically moving within an environment, wherein the cleaning appliance cleans a surface in accordance with a predetermined work schedule, wherein at least one level of contamination of the surface is determined, and a cleaning task is controlled as a function of the level of contamination. In order to make the cleaning operation more flexible and individual, the level of contamination is entered on a map associated with positional information of the environment, wherein a user undertakes editing of the map, that is to say, defines on the map surface zones of the surface and manually assigns a cleaning task of the cleaning appliance to at least one surface zone.