The present invention describes a method for associating new data with a digital map which is available, preferably locally, in a vehicle, having the following steps: at least one new data value is received from a transmitter which is an element of a vehicle-to-vehicle communication and/or a vehicle-to-infrastructure communication, the new data value is compared with the existing data values from the digital map, and the new data value is added to the digital map or the existing data values are updated with the new data value, in each case on the basis of the result of the comparison. The specified method is used for improving the digital map material. The invention also describes a device for associating new data with a reception device and with a computation device.