Space and time

A unique mapping project links swisstopo with the highest mountain in North America, Denali. In 1960, when the stone giant was still called Mount McKinley, a map of the mountain was published the appearance of which resembled the Swiss national maps. How did this relationship come about?

Since 1981, swisstopo's National Point of Contact has been helping satellite imagery users find the products they need.

Alexandre Stryienski was a Polish-Swiss topographer. He was of great importance for the cartography of the canton of Fribourg.

From 1914, chestnut forests were marked separately on the Siegfried Map. The reason for this was the valuable tannin contained in chestnuts, which was needed for the military during the First World War.

From 1859 to 1959, to determine Swiss time the Neuchâtel Observatory observed the passage of the stars above the meridian using a telescope. To make sure that the telescope was correctly adjusted, it was required to scan the north-south axis and identify two marks serving as reference points. These marks still exist today. The southern mark in Portalban has a direct link to swisstopo since it was integrated into the national survey network.

The Swiss reference altitude Repère Pierre du Niton RPN in the Lake Geneva basin is the basis of the Swiss sea level. Previously, the Chasseral was the reference altitude.

You don’t expect to find pyramids in Switzerland, but it is quite possible that you have come across some while hiking or browsing through tourist brochures. Pyramids in Switzerland? How can that be possible?

The theodolite was the angle measuring instrument used to create the basis for Swiss maps. It had to be laboriously transported to its places of use in the Swiss mountains.

The development of the Topographic Landscape Model TLM was officially completed in December 2019. However, the digitization of map production at swisstopo began back in the 1960s.

The SWISSIMAGE orthophoto mosaic produced using aerial images is now also available for 1985 through 1990. The “Journey through time – aerial images” online tool makes it possible to gain a complete view of Switzerland from 1979 to the present.

swisstopo’s map collection holds many great treasures, including a large-scale map of the Rhône Glacier dating to the end of the 19th century. Produced entirely in watercolour and Indian ink, this unique map also tells the story of the beginning of alpine glacier research.

After nearly eight years and with the help of numerous people from all over the world working together, a cartographical masterpiece has been brought to life. In 1988, the prestigious National Geographic magazine published a 1:50,000-scale map of Mount Everest, in time to mark the National Geographic Society’s centenary and the 150th anniversary of the Swiss Federal Office of Topography. Here in Wabern, the finishing touches were made to the only map ever to illustrate the so-called Roof of the World in the same level of detail as a national map.

A topographic map is by definition the graphic representation of a territory. Thanks to its high quality, the graphic design of our national maps comes close to reality. However, despite strict requirements concerning precision and rigorousness, they sometimes conceal treasures born of their creator’s imagination.