Published on 8 January 2024

SWISSIMAGE HIST

The orthophoto mosaic SWISSIMAGE HIST is a composition of historical (before 1998) black and white aerial photographs over the whole of Switzerland with a ground resolution of 50 cm.

The historical (before 1998) black and white Orthophotomosaic of Switzerland

Images that have been freed of their distortions and therefore show a uniform scale over their entire surface, are designated as orthoimage. They can for instance be overlaid with other geodata and serve as a basis for accurate measurements of coordinates, distances and surfaces.

Applications

The field of applications of orthophotos is as various as the content of its underlying aerial photographs.

The historical dimension of SWISSIMAGE HIST and the possible comparison with newer orthophotos make it an ideal basis for studies on the evolution of natural and built environment.

Access to data

The dataset is not available for free download. Please send your orders to [e-mail] who will make an offer for the costs of the provision of the data. To facilitate the order, please specify the area of interest (rectangle in Swiss coordinates, municipality, etc.), the format and, if necessary, the resolution or variant.

SWISSIMAGE HIST can be displayed thanks to the Journey through time – aerial images.

Terms of use

Additional information

• Technical Details

  Available years : 1926 - 1998
  
  Black and white images
  
  Coordinate system : LV95
  
  Ground resolution : 0.5 m
  
  Planimetric accuracy (1 sigma) : +/- 1 m (in hilly terrain +/- 3-5 m)
  
  Manual corrections: only clouds in the images are removed. No intervention on distorted objects, dust and scratches.
  
  Data format : grayscale TIFF (1 x 8 bit) with TFW (World File)-georeference

• Sample Data

  Sample SWSSIMAGE HIST

  Sample data shows the type and format of the data and can therefore be used for test purposes.

• Date of when the images were taken

  The SWISSIMAGE product is a mosaic of several orthorectified aerial images. The year assigned to each tile in the mosaic corresponds to the flight year of the image used to produce at least 70% of the tile. To find the exact date of acquisition of the images used in production, you need to retrieve the flight date available in the digital aerial strips or in the individual aerial images for older periods. A detailed breakdown of the images and therefore the dates used to produce the tile ("seamlines") is not available.

  All this information is available directly from the mapping portal by clicking on the various displayed elements.

• Links

  • Discover SWISSIMAGE HIST on map.geo.admin.ch
  • SWISSIMAGE
  • A journey through time - aerial images