The Atlas Suisse (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

for ''Swiss Atlas''; also known as the Meyer-Weiss-Atlas), by Johann Rudolf Meyer and Johann Heinrich Weiss, is the oldest

map series A map series is a group of topographic or thematic charts or maps usually having the same scale and cartographic specifications, and with each sheet appropriately identified by its publisher as belonging to the same series. Map series occur whe ...

based upon scientific survey and covering the whole of

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. It was published between 1786 and 1802. In 1786, the industrialist Johann Rudolf Meyer, who came from

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the dis ...

, decided to create a map of Switzerland at his own expense. For that purpose, he engaged a geometer, Johann Heinrich Weiss of

Strasbourg Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...

. The foundations for Meyer's map were baseline measurements by the scientist

Johann Georg Tralles Johann Georg Tralles (15 October 1763 – 19 November 1822) was a German mathematician and physicist. He was born in Hamburg, Germany and was educated at the University of Göttingen beginning in 1783. He became a professor at the University ...

and landscape relief modelling by Joachim Eugen Müller, after which Weiss drew the map. The result of this work appeared between 1796 and 1802, and included 16 sheets and an overview map. The 16 sheets measure x , and depict Switzerland at a

scale Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

of approximately 1:120,000. Until the appearance of Dufour Map (1845-1865), the Atlas Suisse was the map series with the most accurate coverage of Switzerland.

References

* Klöti, Thomas: ''Das Probeblatt zum «Atlas Suisse» (1796).'' In: ''Cartographica Helvetica'' Vol 16 (1997) pp. 23–3
Full text

External links

- navigable online (remainder of Switzerland also available).
Old maps of Switzerland - Atlas Suisse
{{in lang, de - The two Meyer-Weiss-Atlas sheets of the Canton of Bern online. Map series Map series of Switzerland