Landscape memory
swisstopo has been documenting Switzerland’s topographic development for around 175 years. Preserving various geodata and making them available in the form of time series has resulted in a landscape memory of Switzerland that traces all the changes and developments over a lengthy period of time.
![Section of the Dufour map, sheet 9, from 1854, showing Einsiedeln almost 80 years before the damming of Lake Sihl in 1937.](https://prod-swisstopoch-hcms-sdweb.imgix.net/2023/11/14/2a450934-6c1d-453d-8621-1f9ab3e6dd8b.jpg?auto=format)
![Time series of aerial photos (1931, 1938, 1981), documenting the emergence of the railway bridge in Bern](https://prod-swisstopoch-hcms-sdweb.imgix.net/2023/11/14/4639750e-13c1-480c-b4d1-821d51d02430.png?rect=0%2C75%2C2353%2C1324&w=1024&auto=format)
Time series
The term “time series” refers to a chronologically arranged set of geodata. Time series exist for practically all swisstopo geodata and products that are stored and made available to users.
![Collage of a glacier change analysis and the drawers in which historical maps are stored.](https://prod-swisstopoch-hcms-sdweb.imgix.net/2023/11/14/a5880853-d2d5-4350-8742-690131834610.png?rect=0%2C37%2C1176%2C661&w=1024&auto=format)
Long-term availability of geodata
Thanks to long-term availability, swisstopo is able to retain early geodata and provide current data at a high level of quality, as well as to offer professional advisory services where required.
![Geodata and the Swiss Federal Archives](https://prod-swisstopoch-hcms-sdweb.imgix.net/2023/11/14/8fe80ff1-d5cb-4fea-a37a-81852bc1cddb.png?rect=0%2C37%2C1176%2C661&w=1024&auto=format)
Archiving of geodata
Archiving of geodata at the federal level focuses on the storage of geodata for an unlimited period of time. The archived geodata can then be made available in a future geoinformation system. Within the scope of the Ellipse project, swisstopo and the Swiss Federal Archives (SFA) developed a solution for the archiving of geodata. The project was concluded at the end of 2016 and the results are documented in the manual on the archiving of federal geodata.
Federal Office of Topography swisstopo
Seftigenstrasse 264
3084 Wabern