The SwissImage 10 cm orthophoto mosaic combines digital colour aerial photographs over the whole of Switzerland with a ground resolution of 10 cm in flatter areas and in the main alpine valleys and 25 cm over the Alps. It is updated in a cycle of 3 years. For the south-western area covered by JuraMap.org, the last update was in 2023. Info.
The Swiss Map Raster 10 is the Swiss national 1:10,000 scale map in raster format. It stands out for its detailed representation of traffic, settlements, terrain, and vegetation as well as its thorough labelling. Map features are supplemented by relief and drawn rock hachures. Also available is the Swiss Map Vector 10, the Swiss national 1:10,000 scale map in vector format. It includes all complete and differentiated rail, road and path networks, a detailed representation of residential areas, bodies of water, vegetation and terrain complete with annotations. Raster data for relief and rock features complete the vector data. The national map was last updated in 2024. Raster 10 info; Vector 10 info.
Swisstopo's swissALTI3D is an extremely precise digital elevation model which describes the surface of Switzerland without vegetation and constructed features. The spatial density of the data is not always high enough to provide the smallest aperture width (0.5 m), in which case the data are oversampled to 0.5 m. The latest updates based on LIDAR data are accurate to within +/- 30 cm changes in height. For the south-western area covered by JuraMap.org, the last update was in 2020. swissALTI3D is updated every six years. Info.
For the digital elevation model used to represent the terrain as it was in 1898 (see the "Historic + terrain (1898)" base map, the swissALTI3D model is edited manually to remove features (mainly roads) that did not exist in 1998.
Swisstopo's website provides access to the Swiss national cadastral map that summarises information (location, shape and the components of each land parcel) provided by official surveys carried out by cantons. Land parcels cannot be searched using land parcel identification numbers (EGRID). The cadastral map for the canton of Vaud is available at www.geo.vd.ch.
The JuraMap has started providing trails based on the historical context that cover specific topics such as the geology of the Jura Mountains.
Sub-surface rock formations are mapped by swisstopo's recently updated (version 3) GeoCover bedrock elevation model [info] - a digital dataset describing the bedrock surface (or the base of the unconsolidated deposits comprising loosely bound sediments such as sand, gravel and silt which tend to accumulate in low areas or valleys). The subtraction of the bedrock surface from the terrain surface (digital height model) gives the thickness of unconsolidated deposits.
Bedrock outcrops can be found in much of the Jura Mountains. GeoCover data sets (standardised according to swisstopo's geology data model [info]) are based on the Geological Atlas of Switzerland. Reasonably understandable descriptions of the Jura Mountains' bedrocks are available [info].
The JuraMap's GeoCover layer maps bedrock and areas of unconsolidated deposits but no tectonic features (deformation structures and tectonic boundaries according to the geology data model).
By overlaying the terrain and GeoCover maps one can often identify outcrops that reveal the various types of bedrock.
Hillshading is added to the Geocover map. We are using geotiffs for both the rocks and hillshade. The geotifs are layered using the standard switch2osm map rendering toolchain.
Geocover for the Jura Mountains maps about 40 bedrock formations. They are listed [here].
As an example, for the important layers in and around the most interesting area (Mont Pelé and Mont Sala) consider a line running north-west from the Crêt de Grison [here] - the oldest rock formation in the Jura Mountains - to Couchant [here]. The bed rocks are:
The JuraMap is primarily an historical map of Switzerland's south-western Jura Mountains - an area to the north and south of the village of Saint-Cergue which includes the the Jura Vaudois Regional Nature Park (Parc naturel régional Jura vaudoise). The area is bounded to the west and the south-southwest by the frontier with France, to the north by the road from Le Brassus to Saint-Georges which passes at its highest point through the col de Marchairuz (at an altitude of approximately 1300 metres). The eastern boundary is formed by the sucession of communes centred mainly at the foot of the Jura Mountains (Saint-Georges, Marchissy, Le Vaud, Bassins, Arzier - Le Muids, Givrins, Gingins, and La Rippe). Most of these communes extend up into the Jura Mountains except for the largest (Le Chenit) that lies to the north-west of the Jura Mountains and Saint-Cergue which spans the mountains towards the centre of the JuraMap region.
The region's geography means that it is largely undeveloped - the main activies being tourism in the winter and alpages for cows and sheep in the summer. The JuraMap aims to present visitors (mainly those trekking or mountain-biking) a historical perspective as to how the region developed by mapping features that probably existed at the end of the 19th century.
While the basemap for this raster version of the JuraMap uses the standard OSM style (and maps features accordingly), it is also useful to have a Features layer to hightlight a few specific features that are of most interest in the context of historical mapping. The same features are also used for the JuraMap's vector version where the baselayer maps relatively few features to avoid overwhelming users, especially those using mobile devices.
The main features of interest are those that shaped development of the region and remain accessible and worthwhile to visit. The JuraMap is rendered as raster and vector maps using information stored in an OpenStreetMap database. It is edited using standard OSM editors, notably JOSM. JOSM features are tagged using a scheme that follows closely the OSM tagging of physical features. JOSM's primary tag categories of interest are are Geography, Highway and Water. A few Facilities and Man-made tags are useful for highlighting current features (e.g., restaurants, parking places and farmhouses) but not hiking and mountain-biking points of interest such as guideposts, shelters, drinking water, picnic sites, gates, campsites, and railway and bus stations. Some Craft tags might be worthwhile but are not yet used (e.g., today's beekeeping activities or historical historical iron- and glass-works).
Highlighted point-of-interest features currently are:
Geography includes Nature and apart from forests and isolated trees mapped on basemaps, one is probably interested in highlighting a few flora and fauna features (e.g., game trails, wolf traps and the locations of specific plants, especially invasive plants).
Alpages are areas where cows and sheep graze in the summer. They are owned by communes and rented in the summer months to farmers based mainly on farms around the foot of the mountains. The boundaries of alpages are being mapped. For a large part the boundaries are demarcated using stone walls. However,forested areas within alpages have been fenced off in recent years using wire fences. The JuraMap's alpages aims to identify the fenced-off boundaries.
All paths, tracks and roads are mapped as tracks. They vary from modern bitumen roads (where the modern road follows an alignment as it was at the end of the 19th Century) down to essentialy game trails that can be walked but are little used and sometimes difficult to follow. Hikers are warned.
Swisstopo's LIDAR point clouds are somewhat technical in nature and in fact not particularly useful. Some are shown for areas where they may give some indication of the topography. While publically available as datasets, they are not released by Swisstopo in a viewable format.
Virtually all of the southwestern corner of Switzerland's Jura Mountains was photographed from the air in 1933. Many of the aerial photographs are available for viewing at full resolution using Swisstopo's LUBIS Viewer. Each image is accompanied by a data sheet giving the flight date, the type of image and an image preview. However, an orthophoto mosaic produced using the aerial images of 1933 has not been produced (the SWISSIMAGE orthophoto mosaic produced using aerial images starts in 1984).
The procedure for creating high-resolution geotif files from the tif files downloaded using the LUBIS Viewer has been described. The geotifs are used with the standard Switch2OSM tool chain to render raster map tiles.
Recently, the LUBIS Viewer allows high-resolution georeferenced tiff images to be download. These need to be reprojected to the WGS84 Pseudo-Mercator projection and optionally trimmed to remove a black border and edge artifacts.
The 1933 aerial photos give useful insights into road networks and the dry-stone rock walls that are a feature of the Jura Mountains. An indication of the approximate extent of forest boundaries can also be inferred.
We are investigating how to best use the Panoramax "streetviewer" (or indeed any streetview system, be it Mapillary, Google Street View, etc) to display useful images of hiking trails in mountainous regions. A somewhat technical description of our Panoramax server and its integration in web pages is available.