swiss-geodata-mcp 0.1.0

MCP server for the Swiss federal geodata (geo.admin.ch) — layer discovery, spatial identify, zoning, heights, coordinate conversion

🇨🇭 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