A method for operating a display system in a vehicle having at least one first display surface and one second display surface, wherein the display surfaces (2a, 2b, 2c, 2d) are arranged spaced apart from one another and the display system has a first and a second operating mode; wherein in the method navigation data are acquired and a map display is generated on the basis of the acquired navigation data, wherein the map display comprises a current position of the vehicle; display data for at least one first partial display (22a, 23a) and a second partial display (22b, 23b) are generated on the basis of the map display, wherein the first partial display (22a, 23a) is displayed by the first display surface, and the second partial display (22b, 23b) is displayed by the second display surface; wherein the first partial display (22a, 23a) comprises a first map excerpt and the second partial display (22b, 23b) comprises a second map excerpt, wherein the first and the second map excerpts comprise different excerpts of the map display, wherein the entirety of the two map excerpts forms a coherent representation of data of the map display, wherein the first and the second map excerpts have a geographical relationship with one another, wherein the geographical relationship is determined on the basis of the relative arrangement of the first display surface to the second display surface, characterized in that one of the at least two display surfaces (2a, 2b, 2c, 2d) is determined as a function of the operating mode of the display system and the map excerpt of the partial display (22a, 22b, 23a, 23b), which is displayed by the determined display surface, is formed in such a way that the map excerpt comprises the current position of the vehicle. navigation data are acquired and a map display is generated on the basis of the acquired navigation data, wherein the map display comprises a current position of the vehicle; display data for at least one first partial display (22a, 23a) and a second partial display (22b, 23b) are generated on the basis of the map display, wherein the first partial display (22a, 23a) is displayed by the first display surface, and the second partial display (22b, 23b) is displayed by the second display surface; wherein the first partial display (22a, 23a) comprises a first map excerpt and the second partial display (22b, 23b) comprises a second map excerpt, wherein the first and the second map excerpts comprise different excerpts of the map display, wherein the entirety of the two map excerpts forms a coherent representation of data of the map display, wherein the first and the second map excerpts have a geographical relationship with one another, wherein the geographical relationship is determined on the basis of the relative arrangement of the first display surface to the second display surface, characterized in that one of the at least two display surfaces (2a, 2b, 2c, 2d) is determined as a function of the operating mode of the display system and the map excerpt of the partial display (22a, 22b, 23a, 23b), which is displayed by the determined display surface, is formed in such a way that the map excerpt comprises the current position of the vehicle.