swiss-geodata-mcp

⚠️ DEPRECATED — use swisstopo-mcp instead

This server has been consolidated into swisstopo-mcp and is no longer maintained. Every capability it offered now exists there, including the one it used to have exclusively — the official REFRAME coordinate conversion.

Why: both servers wrapped the same api3.geo.admin.ch endpoints and overlapped in five core tools (layer search, identify, find, height, elevation profile). Maintaining two servers for one data source meant double the audits, double the CVE bumps, and an unclear choice for users. The rationale and the migration steps are documented in docs/merge-plan-swiss-geodata-mcp.md.

This repository will be archived. The code below still works, but it receives no further fixes or dependency updates. See Migration below.

🇨🇭 Part of the Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio

🗺️ swiss-geodata-mcp

MCP server for Swiss federal geodata (geo.admin.ch).

Connects AI models to the federal geodata infrastructure: ~700 layers discoverable by keyword, spatial identify at any point, building zones (ARE), municipality lookup (swissBOUNDARIES3D), terrain heights and elevation profiles (swissALTI3D), and WGS84↔LV95 coordinate conversion. Part of the swiss-public-data-mcp portfolio. Private project, independent of any employer or institutional affiliation.

🇩🇪 Deutsche Version

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Demo query (anchor example)

In which building zone is the school building at Seilergraben 76 in Zurich,
and how high above sea level is it?

→ geo_zoning_at(2683531, 1247914) + geo_height(2683531, 1247914) returns the harmonised ARE zone and 411 m a.s.l. — verified live 2026-07-24.

Combined with swiss-housing-mcp:

What applies at this address?

→ address_to_egid("Seilergraben 76 Zürich") (housing) delivers the LV95 coordinates → geo_zoning_at + geo_municipality_at (geodata) deliver zone and municipality. If the GWR is the address book, geo.admin.ch is the atlas.

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Tools (9)

Tool	Description	Data source
geo_search_layers	Keyword search over the ~700-layer federal catalogue	geo.admin.ch SearchServer
geo_identify	What is at this LV95 point? (any layer)	geo.admin.ch MapServer identify
geo_find	Find features on a layer by attribute value	geo.admin.ch MapServer find
geo_municipality_at	Municipality + canton containing a point	swissBOUNDARIES3D
geo_zoning_at	Building zone(s) at a point	ch.are.bauzonen (ARE)
geo_height	Terrain height at a point	swissALTI3D height service
geo_elevation_profile	Elevation profile along a line	geo.admin.ch profile service
geo_layer_info	Queryable fields + legend (plain text) for a layer	geo.admin.ch MapServer
geo_convert_coordinates	WGS84 ↔ LV95 conversion	geodesy.geo.admin.ch reframe

geo_search_layers is the discovery entry point that scales the whole catalogue without one tool per layer; geo_layer_info then reveals a layer's queryable fields for geo_find.

Tool annotations (MCP hints)

All tools are read-only (readOnlyHint: ✅, destructiveHint: ✗) and query live upstream services (openWorldHint: ✅). None are idempotent in the strict caching sense, as upstream data may change between calls.

Architecture decision

This server uses Architecture A (Live-API-only) — a deliberate deviation from the portfolio's dump-first default, documented per portfolio convention:

• The federal geodata infrastructure spans ~700 layers and terabytes; dump-caching is neither feasible nor useful.
• api3.geo.admin.ch is built exactly for point/feature queries and answered every probe reliably without authentication (live probe 2026-07-24: SearchServer, identify, find, height, profile, legend, layer metadata, reframe — all HTTP 200, No-Auth).
• Consequence: no local cache, no TTL logic; every response carries provenance: live_api.

Live probe findings (2026-07-24)

Endpoint	HTTP	Status	Note
SearchServer type=layers	200	✅ works	catalogue full-text searchable
MapServer identify (bauzonen, boundaries)	200	✅ works	tolerance 0 works for polygon layers
height service	200	✅ works	value arrives as JSON string
profile.json (GET + geom)	200	✅ works	COMB/DTM2/DTM25 altitudes
MapServer {layer}/legend	200	⚠️ HTML	stripped to plain text in geo_layer_info
reframe wgs84↔lv95	200	✅ works	coordinates arrive as JSON strings
Miss on identify/find	200	⚠️ soft	empty results array — not an HTTP error

Quick start

Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "swiss-geodata": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["swiss-geodata-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cloud / Render.com (Streamable HTTP)

SWISS_GEODATA_TRANSPORT=streamable-http PORT=8000 swiss-geodata-mcp

Configuration

Variable	Default	Purpose
SWISS_GEODATA_TRANSPORT	stdio	stdio | streamable-http | sse
HOST / PORT	127.0.0.1 / 8000	HTTP binding (cloud transports only). Defaults to loopback; set HOST=0.0.0.0 explicitly to expose all interfaces in a cloud deployment.

No API keys — Phase 1 is authentication-free.

Example queries

School planning

• «Which building zone applies at our planned school extension site?» → geo_zoning_at
• «Which municipality and canton is this coordinate in?» → geo_municipality_at (bridges to BFS numbers used by swiss-statistics-mcp and swiss-housing-mcp)
• «How steep is the school route between these two points?» → geo_elevation_profile

Layer discovery

• «Is there federal data on noise exposure?» → geo_search_layers("lärm") → geo_layer_info → geo_identify

See EXAMPLES.md for use cases grouped by audience (schools, parents, general public, developers) and a tool-selection reference table.

Testing

PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -m "not live"   # CI-safe (respx-mocked)
PYTHONPATH=src pytest tests/ -m live         # against real upstream

Project structure

swiss-geodata-mcp/
├── src/swiss_geodata_mcp/
│   ├── server.py      # FastMCP tools (9, prefix geo_*)
│   ├── geoadmin.py    # geo.admin.ch client + retry + normalisation
│   ├── models.py      # Pydantic v2 envelopes (source + provenance)
│   └── __main__.py    # Dual-transport entry point
├── tests/             # respx-mocked + @pytest.mark.live
└── .github/workflows/ # CI + OIDC PyPI publish

Known limitations

• Registers live elsewhere: building/dwelling entities (EGID/EWID) belong to swiss-housing-mcp; this server is the spatial layer (zones, boundaries, heights). Deliberate separation to avoid twin servers.
• The harmonised zoning layer (ch.are.bauzonen) is an ARE synthesis; legally binding is only the cantonal/communal Nutzungsplanung (noted in every geo_zoning_at response).
• School-district polygons are municipal data (→ zurich-opendata-mcp), not federal; this server provides municipality boundaries, not Schulkreise.
• geo_identify result counts are capped upstream; area-wide aggregations are out of scope here (see buildings_in_bbox in swiss-housing-mcp for the register case).
• Coordinates must be LV95; WGS84 input fails fast with a pointer to geo_convert_coordinates.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md

Contributing

Contributions are welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md for how to report bugs, suggest a new layer, or submit code.

Security

This is a read-only, no-PII, public-open-data server. See SECURITY.md for the security posture and how to report a vulnerability.

License

MIT License — see LICENSE. Data: Swiss federal geodata infrastructure (geo.admin.ch / swisstopo and publishing federal offices), open government data with attribution.

Credits & related projects

• Data & services: geo.admin.ch (swisstopo), ARE, swisstopo geodesy
• Portfolio siblings: swiss-housing-mcp (register layer), swiss-statistics-mcp (statistics layer), zurich-opendata-mcp (municipal layer)

Author

malkreide · GitHub

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Migration to swisstopo-mcp

Replace this server in your MCP client config:

// before
{ "swiss-geodata": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["swiss-geodata-mcp"] } }
// after
{ "swisstopo":     { "command": "uvx", "args": ["swisstopo-mcp"] } }

Tool mapping

this server	swisstopo-mcp	note
geo_search_layers	swisstopo_search_layers	—
geo_identify	swisstopo_identify_features	—
geo_find	swisstopo_find_features	—
geo_height	swisstopo_get_height	—
geo_elevation_profile	swisstopo_elevation_profile	takes a coordinate string; set coordinate_system="lv95" for LV95 support points
geo_zoning_at	swisstopo_zoning_at	the non-binding ARE caveat now travels on every result record
geo_municipality_at	swisstopo_municipality_at	BFS number is named bfs_commune_number and normalised to int
geo_layer_info	swisstopo_layer_info	—
geo_convert_coordinates	swisstopo_convert_coordinates	same direction values; same REFRAME service

Two differences worth knowing

Coordinates. This server was LV95-only and rejected WGS84. swisstopo-mcp accepts either lat/lon (WGS84) or easting/northing (LV95) on the point-based tools — pass one pair, not both. Existing LV95 call sites keep working; the argument names are the same.

Response shape. This server returned a JSON string (GeoEnvelope) with the payload under result. swisstopo-mcp returns a structured ToolResponse: records live in results (plural, always a list), with count, match_type, source, license and a Markdown summary alongside. Code that parsed result needs to read results.