Swisstopo MCP Server

🇨🇭 Part of the Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio

🗺️ swisstopo-mcp

MCP server for Swiss federal geodata -- maps, elevation, geocoding, cadastral extracts, and downloadable datasets via Swisstopo APIs

🇩🇪 Deutsche Version

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Overview

swisstopo-mcp gives AI assistants access to Switzerland's official geodata infrastructure through 19 tools, all without authentication:

Anchor demo query: "Which communes are in the Uster district, and what are their BFS numbers for joining with BFS statistics data?" (The BFS commune number is the official join key to swiss-statistics-mcp and zurich-opendata-mcp — this is what turns a geodata wrapper into a semantic connector at the commune level.) → More use cases by audience →

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Features

• 🗺️ 19 tools (REST, Geocoding, Height, STAC, WMTS, OEREB, geodienste.ch, OpenStreetMap/Overpass, OpenPLZ)
• 🏛️ Resolve the administrative address level (PLZ → commune/BFS number → district → canton) via OpenPLZ
• 🔍 Geocode Swiss addresses and reverse-geocode coordinates
• 🏔️ Query elevation and compute elevation profiles
• 📦 Discover and download geodatasets (orthophotos, 3D buildings, historical maps)
• 🏗️ Identify map features at coordinates across 500+ Swisstopo layers
• 🔗 Generate shareable map.geo.admin.ch links
• 📋 Look up cadastral property IDs (EGRID) and retrieve OEREB extracts
• 🔓 No API key required for all tools (OEREB extract needs a supported canton)
• ☁️ Dual transport -- stdio (Claude Desktop) + Streamable HTTP (cloud)

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Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• uv (recommended) or pip

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Installation

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/malkreide/swisstopo-mcp.git
cd swisstopo-mcp

# Install
pip install -e .
# or with uv:
uv pip install -e .

Or with uvx (no permanent installation):

uvx swisstopo-mcp

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Quickstart

# stdio (for Claude Desktop)
python -m swisstopo_mcp.server

# Streamable HTTP (port 8000)
python -m swisstopo_mcp.server --http --port 8000

Try it immediately in Claude Desktop:

"Where is Bahnhofstrasse 1, Zurich? Give me the coordinates." "What is the elevation at the Uetliberg summit?" "What buildings are at coordinates 2683500, 1247500 (LV95)?"

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Configuration

Claude Desktop

Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "swisstopo": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "swisstopo_mcp.server"]
    }
  }
}

Or with uvx:

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

Config file locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Cloud Deployment (SSE for browser access)

For use via claude.ai in the browser (e.g. on managed workstations without local software):

Render.com (recommended):

1. Push/fork the repository to GitHub
2. On render.com: New Web Service -> connect GitHub repo
3. Set start command: python -m swisstopo_mcp.server --http --port 8000
4. In claude.ai under Settings -> MCP Servers, add: https://your-app.onrender.com/sse

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Available Tools

REST API (Layer & Feature Queries)

Geocoding

Height Service

STAC Catalog (Geodata Downloads)

WMTS (Map URLs)

OEREB Cadastre

Consolidated Geodata Façade

One façade over several map/layer sources, kept under the 18-tool budget (see docs/geodaten-erweiterung-phase1.md):

Administrative Address Level (OpenPLZ)

The amtliche address hierarchy PLZ → commune → district → canton, served by the OpenPLZ API (data: BFS municipal directory + swisstopo street directory, Swiss OGD — a separate source and licence from the swisstopo geodata above). Every commune-bearing response exposes bfs_commune_number as a named top-level field: the official join key to BFS statistics (swiss-statistics-mcp) and zurich-opendata-mcp.

Example Use Cases

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Architecture

┌─────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────────────────┐     ┌──────────────────────────┐
│   Claude / AI   │────▶│  swisstopo-mcp               │────▶│  Swisstopo REST API      │
│   (MCP Host)    │◀────│  (MCP Server)                │◀────│  api3.geo.admin.ch       │
└─────────────────┘     │                              │     ├──────────────────────────┤
                        │  19 Tools                    │────▶│  Geocoding               │
                        │  Stdio | Streamable HTTP     │◀────│  api3.geo.admin.ch       │
                        │                              │     ├──────────────────────────┤
                        │  No authentication required  │────▶│  STAC Catalog            │
                        │  (all tools; OEREB canton opt) │◀────│  data.geo.admin.ch       │
                        │                              │     ├──────────────────────────┤
                        │                              │────▶│  OEREB Cadastre          │
                        │                              │◀────│  (cantonal endpoints)    │
                        │                              │     ├──────────────────────────┤
                        │                              │────▶│  geodienste.ch (OGC API) │
                        │                              │◀────│  overpass.osm.ch (ODbL)  │
                        │                              │     ├──────────────────────────┤
                        │  BFS-Nr = join key to        │────▶│  OpenPLZ API             │
                        │  swiss-statistics-mcp        │◀────│  openplzapi.org (BFS/OGD)│
                        └──────────────────────────────┘     └──────────────────────────┘

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Project Structure

swisstopo-mcp/
├── src/swisstopo_mcp/
│   ├── __init__.py              # Package version
│   ├── server.py                # MCP server wiring (tool registrations)
│   ├── api_client.py            # Shared HTTP client (httpx + error handling)
│   ├── geocoding.py             # swisstopo_geocode, swisstopo_reverse_geocode
│   ├── rest_api.py              # swisstopo_search_layers, identify, find, get_feature
│   ├── height.py                # swisstopo_get_height, swisstopo_elevation_profile
│   ├── stac.py                  # swisstopo_search_geodata, swisstopo_get_collection
│   ├── wmts.py                  # swisstopo_map_url
│   ├── oereb.py                 # swisstopo_get_egrid, swisstopo_get_oereb_extract
│   ├── geodata.py               # query_geodata + list_available_layers (façade)
│   ├── overpass.py              # query_osm_features (OpenStreetMap / Overpass)
│   └── openplz.py               # lookup_postal_code, find_commune, search_address (OpenPLZ)
├── tests/
│   ├── test_api_client.py
│   ├── test_geocoding.py
│   ├── test_height.py
│   ├── test_oereb.py
│   ├── test_rest_api.py
│   ├── test_stac.py
│   ├── test_wmts.py
│   ├── test_geodata.py
│   ├── test_overpass.py
│   ├── test_openplz.py
│   └── test_retry.py
├── .github/workflows/ci.yml     # GitHub Actions (Python 3.11/3.12/3.13)
├── pyproject.toml
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md               # Contribution guide (English)
├── CONTRIBUTING.de.md            # Contribution guide (German)
├── SECURITY.md                   # Security policy (English)
├── SECURITY.de.md                # Security policy (German)
├── LICENSE
├── README.md                    # This file (English)
└── README.de.md                 # German version

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Security & Compliance

The full security policy and posture is documented in SECURITY.md.

Phase

This server is in Phase 1 — Read-only wrapper. All 19 tools are readOnlyHint: true / destructiveHint: false; there are no write or send capabilities. See docs/roadmap.md for later phases.

Lethal Trifecta assessment

Trifecta score: at most 1 of 3 — safe by design.

Egress

Outbound requests are restricted to an explicit code-layer allow-list and redirects are disabled — see docs/network-egress.md.

Container deployment

For containerised HTTP deployments, a hardened Dockerfile and Kubernetes manifests (non-root, read-only root filesystem, dropped capabilities, egress NetworkPolicy) are provided — see docs/deployment.md.

MCP Protocol Version

The MCP protocol version is negotiated by the mcp SDK, which is pinned to the 1.x major in pyproject.toml so an update cannot silently change the negotiated version. SDK bumps are proposed monthly via Dependabot and tracked in CHANGELOG.md.

Sessions & Authentication

The server is unauthenticated by design — it serves only public open data. Over HTTP, session IDs are managed entirely by the FastMCP framework; there is no per-user state, so there is nothing user-specific to bind a session to. If an authenticated deployment is ever introduced, session IDs must be bound to the validated user identity (audit finding SEC-009).

Error handling

• Execution errors (upstream failure, invalid value) are returned as a ToolResponse with is_error: true and a user-friendly summary; raw exception text is never leaked to the client (it is logged to stderr instead).
• Protocol errors (unknown tool, malformed/invalid arguments) are emitted by the MCP SDK as JSON-RPC errors with standard codes (e.g. -32602 invalid params). Input validation happens at the Pydantic boundary (SEC-018).

MCP Primitives

This server intentionally exposes Tools only (no Resources or Prompts): it is a Phase-1 read-only wrapper, and every result is a live, parameterised API query rather than a static addressable document. Resources/Prompts may be added in a later phase if stable URI schemes emerge.

Tool workflows

Most tools return a thought-complete result in a single call. Two domains use a short, documented discovery chain (each tool's description states the next step):

• Feature query: swisstopo_search_layers (find layer IDs) → swisstopo_identify_features / swisstopo_find_features → swisstopo_get_feature (full detail).
• Cadastre: swisstopo_geocode → swisstopo_get_egrid → swisstopo_get_oereb_extract.
• Downloads: swisstopo_search_geodata → swisstopo_get_collection.

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Response Format

Every tool returns a structured ToolResponse (FastMCP emits it as structured content with an output schema, plus a JSON text block):

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Known Limitations

• OEREB tools require a canton parameter; not all cantons expose the same API format
• STAC catalog uses Swisstopo's v0.9 endpoint; some collections may lack complete metadata
• Geocoding covers Swiss addresses only (no Liechtenstein)
• Rate limits are enforced by Swisstopo; high-frequency usage may be throttled

Known findings — OpenPLZ live probe (2026-07-20)

The OpenPLZ endpoints were probed live before implementation. Findings baked into the tools:

The abbreviation-vs-key trap in one line: an empty OpenPLZ list is almost never proof that something does not exist — it usually means a wrong path parameter (an abbreviation where a numeric key was expected). The tools resolve abbreviations server-side and annotate every empty result.

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Testing

# Unit tests (no network required)
pytest tests/ -m "not live"

# Integration tests (live API calls)
pytest tests/ -m "live"

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Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md

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Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md

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License

MIT License -- see LICENSE

Data provided by swisstopo under Open Government Data terms.

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Author

Hayal Oezkan · malkreide

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Credits & Related Projects

• Swisstopo: www.swisstopo.admin.ch -- Swiss Federal Office of Topography
• Swisstopo APIs: api3.geo.admin.ch / data.geo.admin.ch
• Protocol: Model Context Protocol -- Anthropic / Linux Foundation
• Related: zurich-opendata-mcp -- Zurich city open data
• Related: swiss-transport-mcp -- Swiss public transport
• Related: swiss-cultural-heritage-mcp -- Swiss cultural heritage
• Portfolio: Swiss Public Data MCP Portfolio

Installation

Run via uv's uvx — no clone or manual install needed. Add to your MCP client config (mcpServers for Claude Desktop, Cursor and Windsurf; use a top-level servers key for VS Code in .vscode/mcp.json):

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