The National Maps of Switzerland, also referred to as the Swisstopo maps, are a set of official

map series A map series is a group of topographic map, topographic or thematic map, thematic charts or maps usually having the same scale and cartographic specifications, and with each sheet appropriately identified by its publisher as belonging to the same ...

designed, edited and distributed by

Swisstopo Swisstopo is the official name for the Swiss Federal Office of Topography, Switzerland's national mapping agency. The current name was made official in 2002. It had been used as the domain name for the homepage of the instituteswisstopo.admi ...

, the Swiss Federal Office of Topography. Each map series is based on an oblique, conformal, cylindrical projection ( Mercator projection), with a Swiss

Coordinate system In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine and standardize the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The coordinates are ...

( CH1903 +). All maps are updated in a complete cycle of about six years. In 1938, the Federal Office of Topography started issuing new map sheets, which were intended to succeed the old Dufour and

Siegfried Map Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

s. They first appeared in 1:50,000 scale, and from 1952 also in 1:25,000 scale. In addition, further generalisations were made in smaller scales. In each scale, the whole of Switzerland was covered. In 1979, with the issuance of the last 1:25,000 scale sheet, the work was completed. The map sheets have been produced in several different versions: topographic maps, tourist maps, special maps (for aerospace, geology, etc.). They are now also available on electronic media. The topographic maps have been published in the following

scale series A map series is a group of topographic or thematic charts or maps usually having the same scale and cartographic specifications, and with each sheet appropriately identified by its publisher as belonging to the same series. Map series occur whe ...

: The normal map sheets are arranged in a grid pattern. In addition, there are composition maps (i.e. extending over sheet borders) covering

urban agglomeration An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

s, or tourist areas. Many of 1:50,000 scale map sheets are also available as hiking maps (with highlighted trails) or as

ski tour Ski touring is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas. Touring is typically done off-piste and outside of ski resorts, and may extend over a period of more than one day. It is similar to backcountry skiing but excludes the ...

maps. The Federal Office of Topography also publishes the following digital products: *National Map 1:25,000 on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

(Swiss Map 25); *National Map 1:50,000 on DVD (Swiss Map 50); *National Map 1:100,000 on

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

(Swiss Map 100); and *For professional applications: ** Digital landscape models as pixel maps for all scales; **Digital landscape models as vector data based on the 1:25,000 (VECTOR25) and 1:200,000 (VECTOR200) topographic map sheets; and **

Digital elevation model A digital elevation model (DEM) or digital surface model (DSM) is a 3D computer graphics representation of elevation data to represent terrain or overlaying objects, commonly of a planet, Natural satellite, moon, or asteroid. A "global DEM" refer ...

s with a grid size of (DTM25) and (DOM / DTM – AV). For all of these maps, the

Pierres du Niton The Pierres du Niton (French for ''Neptune's Stones'') are two glacial erratics in Lake Geneva, Switzerland, in Geneva harbor. On the left bank of the lake near Quai Gustave-Ador, they are remnants from the last ice age, left by the Rhone glacie ...

rocks, in the port of

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, are the

reference point Reference point or similar may refer to: Mathematics and science *Reference point (physics), used to define a frame of reference *Reference point, a point within a reference range or reference interval, which is a range of values found in healthy ...

for height measurements. In 2005, a proposal for the spelling of local names (field names) on the national map in a manner closer to the way in which they are pronounced was made available for the formal Swiss consultation process. Many national map users are opposed to this proposal.Lokalnamen: ''http://www.lokalnamen.ch''. (Information with, ''inter alia'', a chronology on the spelling of place names, as at January 2009.)

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline, Swisstopo maps
map.geo.admin.ch
- Geographical portal of the Swiss Confederation Map series of Switzerland