Coordinates
How do you inform people about your location? As a rule you give them an address or describe your surroundings. With the aid of coordinates, however, you can accurately indicate the position of a given location within a few centimetres. This page explains what coordinates are and how they are calculated.
Reference system as basis for coordinates
The reference system forms the theoretical basis for calculating coordinates. For this purpose the measurement units, zero point and position of the coordinates system have to be defined. In the reference system the type of map projection is also specified that is to be used for depicting the spherical earth on a map. There are global, European and Swiss reference systems.
Reference frame: making the reference system comprehensible
With the aid of the reference frame the coordinates reference system can be connected to the real world. The reference frame encompasses hundreds of points that are marked on the ground, measured and updated within the framework of the national survey. The coordinates of these points are published on www.map.geo.admin.ch, and are thus placed at the disposal of all interested users.
The Swiss coordinates system
Switzerland’s official coordinates are based on reference frame LV95 (the 1995 national survey), with the point of origin (or zero point) located in Bern. The coordinates of this point are E = 2,600,000 m (east) and N = 1,200,000 m (north). The fundamentals of the national coordinates were created more than 100 years ago, and were updated at the end of the 1990s.
Federal Office of Topography swisstopo
Seftigenstrasse 264
3084 Wabern