These 13 photos show it: This is how Switzerland has changed since 1946

When you feel like a little trip through time: you can do it anytime on the Swisstopo map service (map.geo.admin).

If you select the “Time travel” map and activate the red clock icon, a timeline will appear where you can select the desired year. In this way it is possible to trace how cities and towns have spread since 1864.

The feature has been available for maps since 2013 and expanded to include flight images from 2018. Now, 4 years later, Swisstopo has integrated and georeferenced more than 108,000 aerial images.

The first aerial photos date from 1946 and show the city of Bern:

And this is what Bern looks like today:

You can compare the two photos here:

Until the late 1990s, the images are black and white. But not only the color shows the technical progress, also the resolution: today’s shots contain considerably more details, such as pedestrian crossings or solar panels on roofs.

Time for a trip through Switzerland. Follow us.

The shopping centers of Grancia (Ti) and Melide’s mother:

First fields, then the autobahn and with it the forwarding companies: Egerkingen SO.

From mountain stream to reservoir: in 1965 the Verzasca was dammed.

In 2012, the two-home initiative was adopted: the proliferation of vacation homes in Verbier USA.

From Lake Farmland to Little Florida: Hurden on Lake Zurich.

More slopes. More houses. More roads. Zurich Airport Kloten.

First fields, then the autobahn and with it the forwarding companies: Egerkingen SO.

The Bremgartenwald near Berne also gets a striking cut through the highway:

Once strewn fields, today an incentive for consumers: the Kirchberg interchange with several shopping centers.

From the mountain village with a train connection to the end of the tunnel with a village connection: the transport infrastructure characterizes Airolo TI.

Already well developed in the 1950s: Zurich West.

Characterized by the Rhine, the bridges and the SBB: Basel.

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