A visit to swisstopo – Through the Interface

Some weeks ago an old friend of mine, Karim Homayoun, let me know of an event being held at swisstopo – the Swiss Federal Office of Topography in Bern – that was being organised as part of the European Heritage Days.

swisstopo

While Switzerland isn’t formally part of the EU, it is part of the Council of Europe, and so participates extensively in this important activity. There have been many such events throughout the country over the weekend.

There were two guided tours of swisstopo being organised – one in French in the morning and one in German in the afternoon – for 30 people each. I signed up for the morning session, and so took the train early on Friday morning to Bern’s Hauptbahnhof.

The train across to Bern with morning mist

From there it’s a few minutes by tram to swisstopo’s main building in Wabern.

swisstopo's main building in Wabern

I was there a little early, so took a picture of the morning sun casting my shadow near a mural with silhouettes of people participating in various topography-related activities.

Shadows

After everyone was assembled, we…

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