Swiss Federal Office of Topography

Swisstopo, or the Swiss Federal Office of Topography is Switzerland's national mapping agency. In 1809, the first topographical surveys of Switzerland took place on a confederate, military level. Measurements in the alpine region started in 1825 with triangulations by Antoine-Joseph Buchwalder. In 1838, the Topographical Bureau (Eidgenössisches Topographisches Bureau) was founded in Carouge, Genève by General Guillaume Henri Dufour (1787-1875). The bureau published its first map the same year, the Carte topographique du Canton de Genève. Under Dufour, topographic surveys of the alpine regions of Switzerland were published from 1845; the final sheet of the survey was published in 1865. In recognition of his cartographic achievements, the Swiss government renamed Höchste Spitze, the highest mountain peak in Switzerland, to Dufourspitze. The first maps with relief shading were published in 1887. Swisstopo incorporates the Swiss Geological Survey.