The National Maps of Switzerland are a set of official map series

Map series

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

 designed, edited and distributed by Swisstopo

Swisstopo

Swisstopo is the official name for the Swiss Federal Office of Topography , Switzerland's national mapping agency.The current pseudo-English name was made official in 2002...

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

Mercator projection

The Mercator projection is a cylindrical map projection presented by the Belgian geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator, in 1569. It became the standard map projection for nautical purposes because of its ability to represent lines of constant course, known as rhumb lines or loxodromes, as...

), with a Swiss Coordinate system

Coordinate system

In geometry, a coordinate system is a system which uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of a point or other geometric element. The order of the coordinates is significant and they are sometimes identified by their position in an ordered tuple and sometimes by...

 (CH1903 +

Swiss coordinate system

The Swiss coordinate system is a geographic coordinate system used in Switzerland for maps and surveying by the Swiss Federal Office of Topography .The map projection used is Oblique Mercator on an 1841 Bessel ellipsoid....

). 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 Maps. They first appeared in 1:50,000 scale

Scale (map)

The scale of a map is defined as the ratio of a distance on the map to the corresponding distance on the ground.If the region of the map is small enough for the curvature of the Earth to be neglected, then the scale may be taken as a constant ratio over the whole map....

, and from 1952 also in 1:25,000 scale. In addition, further generalisations

Cartographic generalization

Cartographic generalization is the method whereby information is selected and represented on a map in a way that adapts to the scale of the display medium of the map, not necessarily preserving all intricate geographical or other cartographic details...

 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:

Name	Scale	Publication years	Cover colour	No. of sheets
National map	1:25,000	1952-1979	brown	247
National map	1:50,000	1938-1963	dark green	78
National map	1:100,000	1954-1965	light red	23
National map	1:200,000		orange	4
General map	1:300,000		blue	1
National map	1:500,000		dark red	1
National map	1:1,000,000		light green	1

The normal map sheets are arranged in a grid pattern. In addition, there are composition maps (ie extending over sheet borders) covering urban agglomerations, 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 mountaineering

Ski mountaineering is form of ski touring that variously combines the sports of Telemark, Alpine, and backcountry skiing with that of mountaineering...

 maps.

The Federal Office of Topography also publishes the following digital products:

• National Map 1:25,000 on DVD
  DVD
  A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
  
   (Swiss Map 25);
• National Map 1:50,000 on DVD (Swiss Map 50);
• National Map 1:100,000 on CD-ROM
  CD-ROM
  A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
  
   (Swiss Map 100); and
• For professional applications:
  • Digital landscape models as pixel maps
    Raster
    Raster may refer to:* Raster graphics, graphical techniques using arrays of pixel values* Raster graphics editor, a computer program* Raster scan, the pattern of image readout, transmission, storage, and reconstruction in television and computer images...
    
     for all scales;
  • Digital landscape models as vector data
    Vector graphics
    Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon, which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics...
    
     based on the 1:25,000 (VECTOR25) and 1:200,000 (VECTOR200) topographic map sheets; and
  • Digital elevation model
    Digital elevation model
    A digital elevation model is a digital model or 3-D representation of a terrain's surface — commonly for a planet , moon, or asteroid — created from terrain elevation data....
    
    s with a grid size of 25 metres (82 ft) (DTM25) and 2 metres (6.6 ft) (DOM / DTM - AV).

For all of these maps, the Pierres du Niton

Pierres du Niton

The Pierres du Niton are two unusual rocks which are visible from Quai Gustave Ador in the harbor of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. They are remnants from the last ice age, left by the Rhone glacier...

 rocks, in the port of Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, are the reference point

Metres above the Sea (Switzerland)

Metres above the Sea is the elevation reference system used in Switzerland. Both the system and the term are also used in the Principality of Liechtenstein.- Use :...

 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..