130
All the results reached by Swiss cartography in its early days were due to private
initiative. The last important work of this kind was to be the map of Switzerland,
produced by J. H. Weiss of Strasbourg and J. E. Müller of Engelberg published in
1796-1802 by J. R. Meyer in Aarau.
The scope of modern surveying began to exceed the strength of the individual and
thus official surveying started with the early 19th Century. From 1806 to 1867 a con-
siderable number of large scale cantonal maps were produced, partly in co-operation
with the Federal government. They are well worth noting even today. We might
mention the three-colour contour map of the canton of Zürich (1 25 000), the so-
called Wild map and the maps of the canton of Aargau with contour lines and hill
toning (1 50 000) and the canton of Lucerne (1 25 000). The cantons of Geneva,
Vaud and St. Gall produced excellent hatched maps (1 25 000 and partly 1 50 000).
Plans for the production of an uniform federal atlas date back to about 1810. But it
was only thirty years later that the Genevese Henri Guillaume Dufour was able to
realise the Topographical Map of Switzerland (1 100 000). The work connected with
the editing of this map is a remarkable chapter of Swiss cultural history. Dufour and
his collaborators collected and improved the cantonal surveys, supplementing them by
new productions to the scales 1 25 000 and 1 50 000. The surface of the earth was
portrayed by contour lines with an equidistance of 10 and 30 m respectively. These
sheets were redrawn to the scale 1 100 000 and the contour lines replaced by hatching.
This was the origin of the first official topographical map of Switzerland known as
the Dufour Map. It was published in 1844-1864 and laid the foundation for the world
renown of Swiss cartography, its rendering of the surface of the earth being much
clearer than in all earlier alpine maps.
In the meantime, however, the demands made on a map had greatly increased and
the last sheet of the Dufour Map was hardly out of press when it appeared imperative
to have the more complete original surveys. It was the Swiss Alpine Club which in the
years 1864-1871 published a few such surveys to the scale 1 50 000 and proved how
very valuable they were. Dufour's successor as director of the Federal Topographical
Bureau, founded in 1838, was Col. Hermann Siegfried. It is mainly thanks to him
that publication of the original surveys was decided on in 1868. This second federal
map, the so-called Topographical Atlas of Switzerland or Siegfried Map is a contour
map to the scale 1 50 000 for the alpine and 1 25 000 for the other regions. The
first sheets appeared in 1870. At the turn of the Century the entire atlas consisting of
604 individual sheets was completed.
In the course of the last decades designing of surveyor's instruments and cartographic
production methods have made great strides. Photogrammetry, aerial photogrammetry
in particular, offered new facilities. Based on the inventions made by Heinrich Wild
and other experts the Swiss geodetic instruments have won worldwide repute. The
products of the optical mechanical works of Messrs. Kern Co. in Aarau and of Hein
rich Wild Ltd., in Heerbrugg are exported all over the world.
In 1912 the Swiss Federal Code of Civil Law came into force. It provided for a
federal cadastral survey which apart from the cadastral plans was to produce topographic
surveys to the scales 1 5 000 or 1 10 000. This most complete cartography of Switzer
land is in production since 1920.
The Dufour Map as well as the Siegfried Map are no longer able to satisfy the
demands of today. Thus after many years of struggle a law was passed in 1935 (Federal
Map Law 1935) providing for the production of new national maps by the Topo
graphical Survey of Switzerland. It envisaged production of topographical maps cover-
ing the whole of Switzerland to the scales 1 25 000, 1 50 000, 1 100 000 and
