Official surveying (Switzerland)

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Fixed position of the Swiss official survey with manhole cover

The Surveying in Switzerland is a joint responsibility of the federal government , cantons , municipalities and private engineering surveyors to survey the Swiss surface . The data obtained during the survey using the most modern technology, for example boundary points of properties, the type of land cover (this includes in particular buildings, streets, fields, meadows, forests and bodies of water) or the height of the site are carefully recorded and managed. Changes are updated continuously.

Cadastral surveying

The surveys approved by the Swiss Confederation for the creation and management of the land registers of the cantons are considered to be official cadastral surveys. These data also serve as the basis for the national spatial data infrastructure , for geographic information systems (GIS) and for various plans . These range from 1: 200 to 1: 10,000 and thus differ from the national maps of the Federal Office of Topography swisstopo.

Freshly set landmark on the edge of a country road

Official cadastral surveys, the cadastre of public property restrictions (under construction) and the land register together form the Swiss cadastral system, see web link. The legal basis for cadastral surveying is Article 75a of the Swiss Federal Constitution and the Federal Law on Geoinformation.

“Article 75a Measurement

  1. Land surveying is a federal matter.
  2. The federal government issues regulations on cadastral surveying.
  3. It can enact regulations on the harmonization of official information relating to land. "
- Federal Constitution

history

The first large-scale plans were occasionally drawn up from the middle of the 17th century to measure the base loads (tithes, ground interest). From 1798 - in the Helvetic Republic - the creation of a Swiss cadastre based on the French model was considered. But the “official surveying” developed differently from one canton to another: On May 18, 1804, the Grand Council of the Canton of Vaud ordered the surveying of all municipalities and the establishment of property and appraisal registers. Geneva (from 1806 to 1818) and Basel (from 1818 until the canton's separation in 1833) followed this example. A canton geometer was appointed in Basel in 1806, but the first parcel surveys were not carried out until 1818. In the cantons, the measurements were carried out without coordination, if at all. With the urban development beginning around 1850, the legal cadastre gained in importance compared to the tax cadastre. On April 16, 1860, the law on the establishment of the land register was adopted in Basel, the experience of which 50 years later at federal level pioneered the creation of the civil code. In 1864 several cantons came together on the initiative of the canton of Aargau to form the geometer concordat , which on the one hand aimed at the freedom of movement and the joint inspection of geometers and on the other hand set up uniform procedural regulations for measurements. Instead of recording the cadastral plans with the measuring table , the polygon method gradually emerged . Around 1903, the first nationwide network of fixed points of the Swiss national survey (LV03) was created. This is based on around 5000 fixed points and has been the frame of reference for surveying work in Switzerland for over 100 years. In 1912 - with the introduction of the Swiss Civil Code - the introduction of a federal land register was also decided. This made land register surveys a federal task, and the cantons were entrusted with carrying out this. The federal government retained the overall supervision and assumed the majority of the construction costs. Since then, property has been guaranteed with an entry in the land register.

According to the 1923 surveying program, the land register surveys should be completed by the end of 1976. However, the promotion of the consolidation of properties decided by the Federal Council on March 23, 1918 and the war years caused a massive delay in land register surveys. During these years, various technical processes were tested and implemented:

  • 1923–1925: first modern use of terrestrial photogrammetry (image measurement),
  • 1927: Introduction of the polar coordinate method with optical distance measurement,
  • from 1927: also aerial photogrammetry,
  • 1929: Introduction of aluminum panels as low-warpage plan carriers,
  • from approx. 1970: electronic distance measurement,
  • 1974: Use of automatic data processing in parcel surveying.

The long delay in the surveying program and the social change to the “digital” age required new concepts for land registry surveying. The "Reform of Official Surveying" project was started in 1980 and led to improved services for administration, business and private individuals. The content of the official survey was adapted to the new technical possibilities. With the pilot project Nidwalden between 1989 and 1999 it was proven that the official surveying can be carried out digitally over an entire canton. In 1993 the new Ordinance on Official Surveying (VAV) was passed. This meant that the conventional paper plan carriers could be replaced by databases. The Global Positioning System (GPS) found its way into official surveying as a new - satellite-supported - measuring method, as well as in national surveying: The national surveying LV95 was created on the basis of a satellite-supported basic network. It is now based on only around 210 selected fixed points. Since the new Federal Constitutional Article 75a came into force in 2004, land surveying has been a matter for the federal government, which also issues regulations on official surveying. In 2008 the Federal Law on Geoinformation (Geoinformationsgesetz, GeoIG) came into force. And since 2009, in addition to the cadastre, which has hitherto been exclusively based on civil law, a cadastre of public property restrictions has also been created. In 2011, discussions on the creation of a three-dimensional cadastral system were started in the official survey. The year 2012 was an anniversary year: “100 years of official surveying in Switzerland” was celebrated. On the Swiss National Surveying Day on May 12th, all cantons held activities for the citizens on the subject of focus and a special stamp was launched to mark the anniversary.

Products and services

The cadastral surveying products and services are used every day. They are of great importance for the Swiss economy:

Extract from the plan for the land register of the city of Bern
  • Plan for the land register : The cadastral survey and the land register together form the Swiss cadastral system. The cadastral survey describes the location, shape and content of a property and records the information in the plan for the land register. This plan, drawn up on a scale of 1: 200 to 1:10 000, is part of the land register. It is an official document. The boundaries of properties that are recorded therein have legal effect. Additional information such as the land ownership (ownership, co-ownership, building rights, etc.) is recorded in the land register. On the basis of these entries, properties and real estate can be mortgaged. Mortgage notes, which are also recorded in the land register as mortgages, serve as security. Today the plan is mostly created digitally.
Basic plan AV color 1: 10,000, excerpt from Glarus
  • Basic plan of the official surveying : In the basic plan, the real world including elevation data is mapped on a scale from 1: 2500 to 1:10 000. It is the ideal basis for numerous areas of application such as spatial planning, city or zone plans, etc. The basic plan is available throughout Switzerland. It is automatically generated from the data from the official survey and is available in black and white or color, printed on paper or digitally. It is continuously updated. The basic plan has replaced the long-term overview plan due to technological developments.
  • Building addresses : Building addressing plays a central role today in public administration as well as in the private sphere of citizens. The location of a building is clearly defined with its address and helps, for example, rescue services, the fire brigade, the police or people who are unfamiliar with the location to quickly find a building they are looking for. Vehicle navigation systems have become increasingly important. Building addresses are also used in basic and location maps, in geographic information systems (GIS), in building and apartment registers, for mail delivery and for electronic telephone directories. The cadastral surveying administrates the building addresses across the whole of Switzerland, keeps them up to date and makes them available.
  • AV-WMS : The official surveying data are used today to a large extent in digital form via the Internet. They are available on regional, cantonal or national portals. It is used via so-called geospatial services, with which the data is made available in a structured, predefined form. Such services exist, for example, for the display of data (display service), for data delivery (download service) or for the search for specific data records (search service). A specific display service is the Web Map Service (WMS). It is an interface for retrieving extracts from data over the Internet. With the AV-WMS specially designed for cadastral surveying, direct access to the current data is guaranteed.
  • CadastralWebMap : The service provides precise, reliable, up-to-date and detailed background information for all of Switzerland, for example on Internet usage.
  • Cadastralinfo : The service offers easy access to a wide range of information on the Swiss cadastral system via the Internet. The new application of the Swiss Official Surveying finds the property you are looking for with an address, a parcel number or the country's coordinates and provides the relevant information in addition to a plan and aerial photo.

organization

Scheme of cooperation between the various partners in official surveying (Public Private Partnership)

Cadastral surveying in Switzerland is a successful example of a public private partnership . The public sector - the Confederation, cantons and municipalities - and the private sector have been working closely together for over 100 years. The partners perform the following tasks:

  • The Swiss Confederation: The strategic management of the cadastral surveying lies with the Federal Directorate of Surveying, a division of the Federal Office for Topography swisstopo. In consultation with the cantons, the Federal Land Surveying Directorate defines the nationwide strategy for the collection, renewal and further development of official surveying and defines the quality requirements. The client is the Federal Council. The Federal Land Surveying Directorate checks the surveying works submitted by the canton for correctness and decides on the financial contribution. The annual compensation from the federal government for cadastral surveying makes a significant contribution to safeguarding property. The tasks of the Federal Land Surveying Directorate also include the coordination of surveying projects by other federal agencies with official surveying.
  • The canton: The canton is responsible for the operational management of official surveying. It defines the cantonal implementation plan, plans and leads the work and determines the canton-specific implementation standards within the framework of federal legislation. He checks the work of the official surveying and approves the surveying work after any deficiencies have been remedied. This makes it a public document. 20 cantons have their own surveying supervisors who perform these tasks. The six cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden, Appenzell Ausserrhoden, Glarus, Nidwalden, Obwalden and Uri as well as the Principality of Liechtenstein have entrusted the Federal Department of Land Surveying with the operational management.
  • The municipality: In larger cities there are offices that are responsible for the cadastral surveying of their municipality.
  • Patented engineering surveyors: Since official surveying collects data with legal effect, the work can only be carried out by specialists who have successfully passed the state examination for engineering surveyors on the one hand and who have received the corresponding patent and on the other hand are entered in the register of engineering surveyors. Around 190 private engineering and surveying offices (around 2,800 employees) throughout Switzerland are tasked with collecting, updating and managing data from official surveying. They are each led by a patented engineer-geometer. An up-to-date list of the persons entered in the geometer register can be viewed on the portal of Official Surveying Switzerland.

Surveying methods

Over a hundred years ago, Switzerland laid the foundations for land register surveying, which is today's official surveying. As in the past, points are still measured and their coordinates calculated. The measuring and working techniques, the instruments and the tools have developed significantly during this time. The terrestrial method is the oldest surveying method. From the ground, angles and distances are measured with the total station (the most common measuring instrument) and the coordinates and the height of the recorded objects are calculated from this. Today's digital instruments perform these calculations directly. The measurement data are stored in the device and transferred to the computer system in the office for further processing. To determine differences in height which is leveling used. With the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) coordinates and heights can be determined via satellite with an accuracy of a few centimeters in seconds. For this purpose, special measurement and evaluation methods are used or the reference data of the automatic GNSS network of Switzerland (AGNES) is used.

With photogrammetry , the terrain is systematically flown over and photographed from the air. The images from a special camera are optically merged into one image so that the earth's surface appears three-dimensional ( stereoscopy ). Based on this, objects can be recorded three-dimensionally or contour curves can be evaluated. With laser scanning - an aircraft with a built-in laser scans the terrain as it flies over it - information about the structure and structure of the earth's surface , the topography, can be obtained. In some cases, terrestrial photogrammetry is also used.

Official survey data

Breakdown of the digital data of the cadastral surveying into thematic levels

"The data of the official survey are georeferential data that are used by federal authorities [Confederation], the cantons and the municipalities as well as by business, science and third parties to obtain geographic information."

The digital data of the official survey are divided into 11 thematic levels. These levels can be freely combined with one another and can be linked with other room-relevant data as required, for example with data from the noise register, the line register and the zone plan. The geodata description language INTERLIS was specially developed for this purpose . INTERLIS enables data exchange between different geographic information systems. It has been a Swiss standard since 1998 and is required for data exchange within official surveying. At the same time, since the Federal Law on Geoinformation came into force in 2008, INTERLIS has also applied to all geographic reference data under federal law.

education

Scheme of training paths for occupations in the field of cadastral surveying

Professions that deal with official surveying belong in the field of geomatics. This deals with geographic data and the latest information technology. Objects and information are recorded on site and then processed, supplemented, refined and managed in geographical information systems at the workplace. In Switzerland, a distinction is made between different training levels:

  • The four-year apprenticeship as geomatics or to Geomatikerin. Opportunity to take the professional examination of geomatics technician or Geomatic engineer;
  • the training at a university of applied sciences for a Bachelor of Science FH in geomatics with the possibility of additionally completing a master’s degree. Possible are: University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland: Master of Science FHNW in Engineering with specialization in Geographic Information Technology ; Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse occidentale : Master of science HES-SO en Ingénierie du territoire (MIT);
  • studying at one of the two federal technical universities:
    • ETH Zurich : MSc Geomatics and Planning;
    • EPF Lausanne : Civil engineer or engineer en environnement, avec spécialisation en géomatique.

The federal patent for engineering surveyors and an entry in the surveyor's register are required to carry out official surveying. Prerequisites for admission to the state examination are a master’s degree from a federal technical university, a Swiss university or an equivalent degree from a foreign university with evidence of the relevant theoretical background and at least two years of professional experience appropriate to the level.

literature

  • The official surveying of Switzerland, public brochure of the Federal Office for Land Surveying, published by the Federal Office of Topography swisstopo, 3rd revised edition, August 2011
  • Festschrift “100 Years of Official Surveying in Switzerland”, ISBN 978-3-302-10030-2
  • Ordinance on Official Surveying in Switzerland (VAV), SR 211.432.2
  • Technical Ordinance of the DDPS on Official Surveying (TVAV), SR 211.432.21
  • Federal Act on Geoinformation (Geoinformation Act, GeoIG), SR 510.62
  • Ordinance on Geoinformation (Geoinformation Ordinance, GeoIV), SR 510.620
  • Ordinance on the cadastre of public property restrictions (ÖREBKV), SR 510.622.4
  • Ordinance on engineering surveyors (Geometer Ordinance, GeomV), SR 211.432.261

Web links

Commons : Official Surveying  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation, SR 101
  2. ↑ Federal Law on Geoinformation (Geoinformationsgesetz, GeoIG), SR 510.62
  3. ↑ Website of the Swiss Official Surveying ( Memento of the original from August 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cadastre.ch
  4. ↑ Ordinance on Official Surveying (VAV), SR 211.432.2, Article 1, Paragraph 2
  5. ↑ Ordinance on Official Surveying (VAV), SR 211.432.2, Article 6 Paragraph 2