The Galactic center is the closest region in which we can study star formation under extreme physical conditions like those in high-redshift galaxies. We measure the temperature of the dense gas in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) and examine what drives it. We have mapped the inner 300pc of the CMZ in the temperature-sensitive J=3-2 para-formaldehyde (p-H_2_CO) transitions. We use the 3_2,1_-2_2,0_/3_0,3_-2_0,2_ line ratio to determine the gas temperature in n~10^4^-10^5^cm^-3^ gas. We produce temperature maps and cubes with 30" and 1km/s resolution and publish all data in FITS form; they can be recovered from digital object identifier doi:10.7910/DVN/27601.