River profile

River profile (Flussvermessung) is the periodic geodetic survey of Swiss watercourses operated by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). The dataset exposes the four tables produced by the programme: cross-sections (Querprofile), longitudinal profiles (Längenprofile), special objects (Sonderobjekte) and benchmarks (Versicherungspunkte).

Result order and pagination

Results are returned in no particular order and a single query is capped at 10 000 rows. Queries that exceed the cap are rejected rather than truncated. Larger datasets are retrieved by partitioning into smaller filter windows (typically by gwlNo or gewissAddress) and iterating. See Pagination for details.

Coordinate and elevation reference

Survey records use the Swiss reference frame CH1903+ for planimetric coordinates (LV95: easting, northing in metres) and the Swiss levelling network LN02 for elevations (height in metres above sea level). Azimuths on benchmarks are expressed in gon.

GEWISS address

The gewissAddress field is the federal identifier for objects surveyed along a watercourse (benchmarks, cross-sections, special objects). It derives from the geometry of the Digital Watercourse Network DGN25 (1999) and historically corresponded to the distance from the river mouth to the surveyed object. As watercourses have shifted over time, the difference between two gewissAddress values now approximates – but no longer exactly equals – the actual along-flow distance.

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Available fields

Field	Type	Notes
gwlNo	String	Watercourse number, based on the federal digital watercourse network.
riverName	String	Watercourse name.
sectionName	String	FOEN survey section name.
gewissAddress	Int	GEWISS_Adr — federal identifier of objects surveyed along the watercourse. See the GEWISS address section.
pointRole	String	Punktrolle — specifies special point properties relevant to surveying and to hydraulic and sediment analyses.
groundNatural	String	Boden_Nat — surface-property attribute giving the substrate or revetment to the right of the point up to the next measurement point.
groundVegetation	String	Boden_Veg — surface-property attribute giving the ground cover to the right of the point up to the next measurement point.
crossDistance	Float	Querdist — horizontal distance between the point projected onto the profile axis and the zero point. The zero point is normally the left profile definition point.
easting	Float	E — East coordinate (LV95).
northing	Float	N — North coordinate (LV95).
height	Float	Hoehe — Elevation (LN02).
surveyDate	AWSDateTime	Aufn_Dat — Survey date of the cross-section.
remarks	String	Bemerkungen — Free-text remark.
sourceFile	String	Source file name.
rowIndex	Int	Row index inside the source file.

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Available fields

Field	Type	Notes
gwlNo	String	Watercourse number.
riverName	String	Watercourse name.
sectionName	String	FOEN survey section name.
gewissAddress	Int	GEWISS address.
cumulativeDistance	Float	kum_Laengsdist — difference between the observed GEWISS address and the reference address (usually 0, i.e. the river mouth). Does not represent a geometric reach length.
bedWidth	Float	Sohlenbreite — horizontal distance derived from the coordinates of the points attributed as left and right bed boundary.
meanBedLevel	Float	mittl_Sohle — elevation of the mean bed.
leftBankCrossDistance	Float	Querdist Gerinnebegrenzung linkes Ufer — horizontal distance between the point projected onto the profile axis and the zero point. The zero point is normally the left profile definition point.
leftBankHeight	Float	Höhe Gerinnebegrenzung linkes Ufer — elevation (LN02).
leftBankPointRole	String	Punktrolle Gerinnebegrenzung linkes Ufer — point role of the channel-boundary points relevant to water exits.
rightBankCrossDistance	Float	Querdist Gerinnebegrenzung rechtes Ufer — horizontal distance between the point projected onto the profile axis and the zero point. The zero point is normally the left profile definition point.
rightBankHeight	Float	Höhe Gerinnebegrenzung rechtes Ufer — elevation (LN02).
rightBankPointRole	String	Punktrolle Gerinnebegrenzung rechtes Ufer — point role of the channel-boundary points relevant to water exits.
surveyDate	AWSDateTime	Aufn_Dat — Survey date.
remarks	String	Bemerkungen — Free-text remark.
sourceFile	String	Source file name.
rowIndex	Int	Row index inside the source file.

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Available fields

Field	Type	Notes
gwlNo	String	Watercourse number.
riverName	String	Watercourse name.
sectionName	String	FOEN survey section name.
gewissAddress	Int	GEWISS address.
pointRole	String	Punktrolle_SO — specifies special point properties for special objects, relevant to surveying and to hydraulic and sediment analyses.
easting	Float	E — East coordinate (LV95).
northing	Float	N — North coordinate (LV95).
height	Float	Hoehe — Elevation (LN02).
surveyDate	AWSDateTime	Aufn_Dat — Survey date.
remarks	String	Bemerkungen — Free-text remark.
sourceFile	String	Source file name.
rowIndex	Int	Row index inside the source file.

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Available fields

Field	Type	Notes
gwlNo	String	GWLNR — Watercourse number, based on the federal digital watercourse network.
riverName	String	Flussname — Watercourse name.
section	String	Abschnitt — FOEN survey section name.
gewissAddress	String	GEWISS address.
bwwKm	String	BWW_km — River kilometrage of the former Federal Office for Water Management (BWW), where available.
localKm	String	lokale_km — Local river kilometrage (often cantonal), where available.
date	AWSDateTime	Datum — Survey date of the benchmark.
markerLeft	String	Markierung_li — Marker type (e.g. stone, rail, rivet / bolt) on the left bank.
eastingLeft	Float	E_li — East coordinate of the left benchmark (LV95).
northingLeft	Float	N_li — North coordinate of the left benchmark (LV95).
heightLeft	Float	Hoehe_li — Elevation of the left benchmark (LN02).
azimuthLeft	String	Azimut_li — Azimuth of the profile axis at the left benchmark (gon).
markerRight	String	Markierung_re — Marker type (e.g. stone, rail, rivet / bolt) on the right bank.
eastingRight	Float	E_re — East coordinate of the right benchmark (LV95).
northingRight	Float	N_re — North coordinate of the right benchmark (LV95).
heightRight	Float	Hoehe_re — Elevation of the right benchmark (LN02).
azimuthRight	String	Azimut_re — Azimuth of the profile axis at the right benchmark (gon).

Notes

• Each row in cross_sections, longitudinal_profiles and special_objects carries sourceFile and rowIndex, which together identify the original file and line provided by the surveying authority.
• Survey campaigns are repeated; a single GEWISS address may therefore appear with multiple surveyDate values across campaigns.

Contact

Questions about the Flussvermessung dataset can be addressed to flussvermessung@bafu.admin.ch.