swissnames

Geographic Names of Switzerland

swissnames provides curated GeoJSON extracts from the free swissNAMES3D data set from swisstopo. This is either meant for direct map overlays in web map clients or for adding geographic names to your data set.

Data

Please make sure to understand the licensing terms before using the data in your project.

The data can be found in the ./data directory. You can explore the GeoJSON files directly on GitHub.

List and explanation of data extracts

• airport_area.geojson: Various airport areas such as airfields, airports and aerodromes (Polygon)
• campsite.geojson: Campsite landuse (Polygon)
• cemetery.geojson: Cemetry landuse (Polygon)
• dam_structure.geojson: Dam structures such as dam, dam walls and weir (Polygon)
• glacier.geojson: Glaciated areas (Polygon)
• golf_course.geojson: Golf courses (Polygon)
• graben.geojson: Geological graben (Polygon)
• greater_region_nuts2.geojson: Greater regions of Switzerland (Polygon)
• heliport.geojson: Helicopter airport (Polygon)
• hill_chain.geojson: Hill chains (Polygon)
• historic.geojson: Historic areas (Polygon)
• horse_race_track.geojson: Horse race tracks (Polygon)
• hospital.geojson: Hospitals (Polygon)
• incineration.geojson: Incineration (Polygon)
• lake.geojson: Lakes (Polygon)
• lake_island.geojson: Small islands within lakes (Polygon)
• lake_part.geojson: Parts of lakes (Polygon)
• landfill.geojson: Landfill areas (Polygon)
• landscape.geojson: Large landscape names (Polygon)
• main_valley.geojson: The names of main valleys (Polygon)
• monastery.geojson: Monastery areas (Polygon)
• mountain_massif.geojson: Mountain massifs (Polygon)
• power_planet.geojson: Power plants (Polygon)
• prison.geojson: Prisons (Polygon)
• public_parking.geojson: Public parking spaces (Polygon)
• public_swimming_pool.geojson: Public swimming pools (Polygon)
• recreational_area.geojson: Recreational areas (Polygon)
• region.geojson: Large regions (Polygon)
• ridge.geojson: Mountain ridges (Polygon)
• school.geojson: Schools and universities (Polygon)
• settlement.geojson: Settlements (with hierarchy) (Polygon)
• sewage_clarification.geojson: Sewage clarification facility areas (Polygon)
• sports_field.geojson: Sport fields (Polygon)
• substation.geojson: Electric substations (Polygon)
• valley.geojson: Smaller valleys (Polygon)
• zoo.geojson: Zoos (Polygon)
• viewpoint.geojson: Scenic viewpoint (Point)
• border_stone.geojson: Stone marking the border (Point)
• spring.geojson: Hydrological water spring (Point)
• memorial.geojson: Memorial (Point)
• waterfall.geojson: Waterfall (Point)
• cave.geojson: Caves and grottos (Point)
• wayside_shrine.geojson: Wayside shrines (Point)
• well.geojson: Wells (Point)
• main_peak.geojson: Main summit (Point)
• alpine_peak.geojson: Alpine peak (Point)
• peak.geojson: Smaller peaks (Point)
• boulder.geojson: Big boulder (Point)
• main_hill.geojson: Main hill (Point)
• hill.geojson: Named hill (Point)
• mountain_pass.geojson: Mountain pass (Point)
• road_pass.geojson: Mountain road pass (Point)
• ski_jumping_hill.geojson: Ski jumping hill (Linestring)
• sled_run.geojson: Sled and bob runs (Linestring)
• aerial_lift.geojson: Aerial lifts like ski/gondola/chair lifts and aerial cableway (Linestring)
• river.geojson: Waterways/rivers (Linestring)
• road_structure.geojson: Road structures (bridges, tunnels, underpass) (Linestring)
• foot_path.geojson: Foot paths (Linestring)
• climbing_route.geojson: Climbing routes/Via ferrata (Linestring)
• ferry.geojson: Person (with and without rope) and car ferries (Linestring)
• railway_structure.geojson: Railway structures (bridges, tunnels) (Linestring)

License

The geo data from swisstopo is licensed under the Licence for the free geodata of the Federal Office of Topography swisstopo and by using the data extracts you are legally bound to the terms of this license as of section 6d. All other code is MIT licensed. This repo refines the original swisstopo data and redistributes that refined data (allowed usage according to section 4j).

Data Quality and Coverage

The data from swisstopo is very accurate. However for many special cases it is lacking coverag and you will get more features if you extract them directly from OpenStreetMap.

The data is especially made for labelling (although ranking is difficult without more information). Some gold nuggets include the very detailed place names in settlement.geojson which includes population classes.

Run Workflow

The entire project is structured components using Docker containers to work together. Ensure you meet the prerequisites.

• Install Docker
• Install Docker Compose

By default you will use the containers published to DockerHub. You can also build the containers yourself with make. Start up the PostgreSQL database with the PostGIS extension.

docker-compose up -d postgres

Now import the swisstopo swissNAMES3D data set.

docker-compose run import-swisstopo

Import the required database schema (views and helper functions).

docker-compose run db-schema

Export the GeoJSON files. The exported GeoJSON files are stored in ./data.

docker-compose run export-geojson