The second prototype testing phase of the SWISS WORLD ATLAS interactive has been successfully completed. The test persons evaluated the functionality as well as the contents altogether positively. Nevertheless the prototype still has potential concerning the performance. During the next weeks, the software will be optimized and map contents will be added. The third and last testing phase will start in March 2010. Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it if you are interested in participating.

After the demo of the SWISS WORLD ATLAS interactive at the "Deutscher Geographentag" in Vienna, the prototype was also presented at the International Cartographic Conference ICC 2009 in Santiago de Chile to an international academic audience. The presentations about different aspects of the interactive web atlas attracted wide interest. You can download the appropriate papers under Publications.

The SWISS WORLD ATLAS interactive was tested for the first time in a geography lesson at a secondary school. This test showed up that the limited broadband connection at schools could lead to performance losses, especially when a lot of students access a map at the same time. An improvement could be achieved by the Swisscom initiative "Internet for schools". Within this initiative, Swisscom is sponsoring high-broadband internet connections. Schools can now submit sponsorship applications to the relevant cantonal authorities.

The former chief editor of the SWISS WORLD ATLAS, Prof. Dr. h.c. Ernst Spiess, wrote an interesting final report about the history of the atlas between 1978 and 2008. (In German only)

The ETH students Carmen Müller and Christian Omlin completed their theses successfully  within the project of SWISS WORLD ATLAS interactive. Carmen wrote her Bachelor thesis about the integration of commentary contents to the interactive atlas version. Christian’s thesis is about the labeling of interactive block diagrams.