The swisstopo app passes four million downloads

The Federal Office of Topography's app has passed four million downloads since it was launched in 2020. A new version adds tools designed for orientation and improves search.

The main addition is landmarks. These are distinctive features such as mountain peaks, buildings or natural monuments, highlighted on the map to help users work out where they are. Among the examples cited by the federal office are Piz Bernina, Bern Minster and the Rhine Falls.

The search function has also been reworked. It is now multilingual: searching for «Ginevra» finds «Genève». The system also recognises dialect terms and misspelled words. It has become possible to search directly for routes and points of interest the user has saved.

Routes

For route planning, the starting point and time can now be chosen freely, independently of where the user happens to be. New filters for ascents and descents have been added, useful for picking the routes that best suit the walker.

The app is free and was launched in July 2020. On fine-weather weekends it is opened up to 300,000 times a day. The new features, the federal office notes, were also developed on the basis of feedback from users.