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Easter eggs on topographic maps of Switzerland



You may have heard that in Switzerland there is a data center located in an old military bunker. This is almost the most secure data center in the world, and its location has remained secret information for many years. He simply was not visible on the maps of Switzerland. Which, incidentally, are very detailed. But today Cloud4Y will not tell you about the data center used by cloud providers, but about maps and cartographers.

For decades, cartographers have been hiding small pictures on official topographic maps of Switzerland. They tried to outwit one of the most rigorous map-making organizations in the world in order to leave a memory of themselves.

Three dimensions familiar to geographers, longitude, latitude and height, are used in all topographic maps. The “Fourth Dimension,” the same time, can be seen on the Swisstopo website (Swiss Federal Bureau of Topography). In Time Travel, you can see the 175-year cartographic history of the country with an interval of 5-10 years. For two minutes, Switzerland is drawn with increasing accuracy. Blurry ink borders are gaining accuracy, the card gets new shades of colors, and in 2016, serifs disappear from the font.

It is quite interesting to observe how the territory of the country changes over time, to notice small historical events and refine the landscape. Railway stations and airports are gradually appearing, and the powder factory, which worked in the post-war period, on the contrary, disappears.

But in some parts of the map (especially those located far from the center of the country), you can suddenly see a spider, a male face, or even a naked woman. These barely noticeable images are not a mistake or an accident, but an easter egg from a cartographer. After all, a specially created illustration on the map insolently violates the basic mission of Swisstopo: the recreation of reality. All cards published by the bureau are rigorously checked for inaccuracies and errors. Therefore, the presence of an “illegal” drawing on the map means that the cartographer outwitted his colleagues.

However, despite the fact that the scientist who did this openly violated the internal rules of the organization, not one of those who left Easter eggs on the cards was fired. Largely because most of the drawings were discovered long after the employee left. Moreover, many cartographers try to coincide with the publication of their drawing at the time of retirement. They have fun like that.

The freshest drawing (it was a groundhog) was discovered in 2016. And, of course, it was removed from more recent maps. Indeed, according to the representative of Swisstopo, "Creativity has no place on these maps."

There have always been errors on the maps


Note that errors on the cards (random and deliberate) are not uncommon. This was the case in the 17th century, when California suddenly became an island . And the battle of Waterloo was lost by Napoleon largely because of an inaccurate map that depicted a non-existent road, and the strategically important place, the farm of Mont Saint-Jean, was in a completely different direction.

Or another example: you have probably heard more than once that the military censors cards, turning secret objects into a blurry spot or otherwise transforming it on a map. And cartographers often specifically make small mistakes in order to catch potential copyright infringers.

In general, cartographers are meticulous people striving for maximum accuracy. Their professional life is usually focused on a piece of card the size of a postage stamp. To maintain such a level of concentration and at the same time not begin to feel an aversion to work, scientists are looking for something that can take their work beyond the usual routine. And the appearance of hidden messages-pictures is the result of such a search.

Some Easter eggs went unnoticed for quite some time. For example, a sketchy image of a naked woman was on maps for almost 60 years. He could be seen in northern Switzerland, in the commune of Egg. This light sketch, combining the greenery of the countryside and the blue line of the river, appeared in 1958. And they found the message only in 2012.



In 1980, a spider was drawn on Mount Eiger. It turned out from an ice cap on a mountain and thin legs-borders. Over the next ten years, these legs were gradually removed from the cards until the spider completely disappeared. Around the same time, another cartographer hid freshwater fish in a French nature reserve along the Swiss border. The fish "lived" in the blue circle of the swampy lake until 1989, until Swisstopo removed it for good.



In general, it is extremely surprising that such drawings can be left on the map, because they are repeatedly checked and read. Moreover, Swiss cartographers have a reputation for being extremely zealous for topographical rigor. They even had a seven-year “cartographer war” that began in the 1920s because national maps were not detailed enough from the point of view of the Swiss Alpine Club. Unsurprisingly, Swisstopo's work is currently considered the industry benchmark.



It is believed that Easter eggs are created at a time when the cards are already approved, but cartographers are asked to make the latest corrections. They were also easier to do when maps were obtained by overlaying separate layers of different colors. Scientists could combine various topographic elements (as we already said, the woman consisted of a blue line over a green background). There is also a suspicion that the cartographers could place their drawings in the four corners of the map, but such an example (so far) was not found.

History in pictures


Interestingly, some drawings recreate local legends. So, on a 1980 map near the city of Interlaken, you can see a triangular cartoon face hiding between the trees. Initially, there were only stones that, with some degree of imagination, resembled eyes and mouth. The cartographers finished the rest. According to local legend, this is a monk who was turned to stone as punishment for chasing a young girl.



In the late 1990s, a climber appeared on the map. This image carried a secret message. It covered an area in the Italian Alps where the Swiss lacked information from Italian geographic services. And they decided to fill such a topographic spot in a very unusual way.



Another discovered image, about which it was said just above, is the groundhog, which is hidden in the Swiss Alps. Its puffy outlines hid in subtle relief shading above the glacier, which protected the Easter egg from detection for almost five years. Mountain touches, short parallel lines that indicate the angle and orientation of the slope, form its fur. The groundhog is almost indistinguishable from the surrounding landscape, so it was successfully entered on the map. Moreover, it is quite appropriate here from the point of view of zoology. Alpine marmots feel comfortable at high altitudes, and take refuge in the rocks when it is time for winter hibernation.

The drawings of fish and groundhog were quite tolerant; they quickly became a kind of unofficial national feature. However, the fate of the Easter eggs is sad: according to the decision of the head of the cartography bureau, they will be removed from fresh topographic maps. However, no one knows by whom and when the next funny drawing will be found, carefully hidden by the cartographer. Perhaps you will succeed? Moreover, besides Switzerland, there are many other countries with well-developed maps. And some enthusiasts are looking for all kinds of easter eggs on Google maps.

What else can be useful to read on the Cloud4Y blog

→ How the bank “broke”
→ Personal privacy? No, they didn’t hear
→ How the hacker’s mother entered the prison and infected the boss’s computer
→ Diagnostics of network connections on a virtual EDGE router
→ Anonymization of data does not guarantee your complete anonymity

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