Data supply: simple and direct

Geodata can be obtained directly via the websites listed here:

Cadastral Surveying

• access to the products of cadastral surveying

geocat.ch   is the geographical metadata catalogue for Switzerland. Metadata can be accessed here free of charge. Metadata is an essential component of any geodata infrastructure. Federal Offices, Cantons, municipalities and private firms record the metadata about their own geographical data-sets in geocat.ch. geocat.ch is the ideal starting point for searches for special geodata such as aerial photographs, protected heritage sites, natural hazards, earthquakes, etc., etc.

Federal Office for Spatial Development (ARE)

Federal Roads Office (FEDRO)

Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG)

• Agricultural area boundaries
• Klimaeignungskarte für die Landwirtschaft

Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN)

• Natural areas, Swiss national park
• Federal inventories

Swiss Federal Office of Energy SFOE

• Nuclear power plants
• "Deep geological repository" sectoral plan
• "Electricity transmission lines" sectoral plan
• Overview of hydropower plants
• Overview plan of electrical installations
• Scope of application of the ordinance on the compensation of losses in hydropower use (VAEW)
• Layout plans for electric cable systems

Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO)

• Land use and land cover (area statistics), land suitability
• Census data covering population, households, housing and buildings
• Business statistics covering information on workplaces and employees 
• Generalised municipal boundaries 
• District boundaries in large cities 
• Terrain data at 100 m resolution
  

Federal Office for Topography swisstopo

• Maps , atlases , photographs
• Landscape models
• Height models
• Air obstruction data  
• Geology, Geotechnology

Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss)

• Climatic and meteorological data products 
  

1. Metadata (including information on availability of data, formats, conditions of use, etc.) is publicly available, free of charge, at www.geocat.ch .
2. Geodata can be downloaded free of charge subject to certain restrictions. Please observe the individual supplier’s conditions of use.
3. The following regulations govern basic geodata under Federal law according to GeoIV Annex 1 (Art. 1 Para. 2) :

• Geoinformation Act Section 3 Access and Use GeoIG Art. 10 - Art. 15

Art. 10 Grundsatz
Geobasisdaten des Bundesrechts sind öffentlich zugänglich und können von jeder Person genutzt werden, sofern keine überwiegenden öffentlichen oder privaten Interessen entgegenstehen.

Art. 15 Gebühren
¹ Bund und Kantone können für den Zugang zu Geobasisdaten und deren Nutzung Gebühren erheben.

• Geoinformation Ordinance Section 8 Access and Use GeoIV Art. 20 - Art. 33
  

The Geoinformation Act and the competent bodies within the Federal Administration lay down the rules governing publication of and public access to geodata and basic geodata. Geodata and basic geodata have been made directly accessible on the Internet, subject to the following conditions:

• The published and freely available geodata should meet a large part of the need for geographical information, rapidly and at moderate cost. Basic geodata is accessible in accordance with the Geoinformation Ordinance GeoIV Annex 1 (Art. 1 Para. 2) .
• Geodata is available in a limited range of standard formats and as far as possible covers the whole of Switzerland.  
• To optimise the volumes of data and its compatibility with different software, geodata may if necessary be broken down into a range of different specifications and/or include different levels of content. This also allows different prices to be charged.