Gelmer is situated at the north-eastern outskirts in close proximity to the Dortmund-Ems-Canal and offers a home to around 3.000 people. Part of Gelmer is the farming community Gittrup with the Lake Gittrup.
The district itself is mostly formed by agriculture. In addition, there is an oil terminal with a connected tank storage facility of the Westfalen AG at the Dortmund-Ems-Canal as well as a smaller industrial area. North of Gelmer is the canal viaduct Münster-Gelmer situated, an important industrial monument from the end of the 19th-century.