Generalized boundaries of local and regional authorities

Since the 1990s, the FSO has made the digital communal boundaries of Switzerland available on the basis of precise boundaries from the Federal Directorate of Cadastral Surveying and the Federal Office of Topography which are updated annually (since 2001) in different degrees of generalisation. The data sets are particularly suitable for visualising statistical data on communes, districts and cantons as well as for creating small scale maps relating to different topics.

Administrative boundaries with a low level of detail are often sought for thematic maps and illustrations. The annually updated, digital communal boundaries of Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein produced by the Federal Office of Topography (swissBOUNDARIES^3D) are often too detailed for this purpose. For this reason, GEOSTAT provides digital communal boundaries in different degrees of generalisation. Using special algorithms and a manually supported and supervised optimisation, the base data, with an original scale of 1:250,000 is simplified so that it is suitable for maps and visualisations on a scale of 1:200,000 and smaller.

From 2017 onwards, these boundaries contain a data layer with boundaries of the «area with urban character» (agglomerations and core municipalities outside agglomerations) including communes of neighboring countries being part of a transnational agglomeration.

From 2018 onwards, two manually edited and cartographically optimised levels of generalisation for visualisations of a scale of 1:500'000 and smaller complete the boundaries archives available for download.

From 2018

Generalisation, recommended map scales

Level G1 : ~ 1:300'000 – 1:600'000

Level G2 : ~ 1:700'000  – 1:1'500'000

Level K3 : ~ 1:500'000 – 1:2'000'000

Level K4 : ~ 1:2'000'000 and smaller

2013–2017

Generalisation, recommended map scales

Level G1 : ~ 1:300'000 – 1:600'000

Level G2 : ~ 1:700'000 – 1:1'500'000

2001–2012

Generalisation, recommended map scales

Level G1 : ~ 1:300'000 – 1:500'000

Level G2 : ~ 1:500'000 – 1:1'000'000

Level G3 : ~ 1:1'000'000 – 1:2'000'000

Before 2000

Generalisation, recommended map scales

Level G1 : ~ 1:300'000 – 1:400'000

Level G2 : ~ 1:400'000 – 1:600'000

Level G3 : ~ 1:600'000 – 1:1'500'000

Level G4 : ~ 1:1'500'000 and smaller

Auxiliary information

The geodata available here also contain annually updated supplementary data on areas and maximum, minimum and average situation and elevation values for the political-administrative units as well as coordinates for the centre of the commune. For the years 2010 to 2012, only information on area and centre coordinates are available.

From the 2013 edition onwards, area information and centre coordinates are included as a feature in the geodata. To make this information accessible to interested persons who do not possess a geographic information system, data are also available in an Excel file.

Data description

Geodata from 2010

Geodata until 2009

Aux data