Swiss Building Volume & Area Estimator

Estimate building volumes and gross floor areas from publicly available Swiss elevation models (swissALTI3D / swissSURFACE3D) and cadastral data (Amtliche Vermessung + GWR).

Tip

Try it now — open the live web app: https://bbl-dres.github.io/area-estimator/

No installation needed; it runs entirely in your browser.

What is this?

Estimate the above-ground volume and gross floor area of Swiss buildings from public elevation and cadastral data. Provide a list of buildings (by EGID), and for each one the tool loads its footprint, samples terrain (DTM) and surface (DSM) elevations on an orientation-aligned grid, computes volume and heights, looks up the building's GWR classification, and converts that into an estimated floor count and gross floor area.

All processing works in CRS LV95 (EPSG:2056).

Solutions

The same estimation is available three ways. Each has its own README with full details.

Web App

Zero-install browser app: upload a CSV of building EGIDs and explore volumes, heights, and floor-area estimates on an interactive 2D/3D map, with export to CSV/Excel/GeoJSON.

• Preview: https://bbl-dres.github.io/area-estimator/
• Source code: webapp/ (entry point index.html at the repo root)

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Python CLI

Open-source command-line tool for local, offline processing with exact planar (LV95) areas, a 1×1 m grid, local elevation tiles, and optional GWR-based floor-area estimation.

• Preview: command-line tool — run locally (no hosted demo)
• Source code: python/

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FME

The FME Form workspace (.fmw) implementing the volume pipeline (Steps 1–3) that the other two solutions reproduce.

• Preview: requires FME Form (commercial licence)
• Source code: fme/

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Experimental tools

Standalone exploration tools that aren't part of the main pipeline. Each is independently runnable with its own README.

Tool	Status	What it does
experimental/mesh-builder/	working	Watertight 3D building hulls from AV footprints + swisstopo DSM/DTM, with an in-browser three.js viewer
experimental/roof-shape-from-buildings3d/	working	Per-building roof characteristics (area, slope, shape) from swissBUILDINGS3D meshes
experimental/green-roof-from-rs/	working	Per-building green-roof coverage via NDVI on swissIMAGE-RS imagery
experimental/floor-level-estimator/	unmaintained	Earlier per-floor estimator with construction-period (gbaup) factor

Data & Documentation

Data coverage note: Most cantons are available via the geodienste.ch WFS. Three cantons (JU, LU, VD) don't publish data there, so both the Web App and the Python CLI's --use-api mode fall back to swisstopo vec25 footprints (lower accuracy, ~2-year update cycle). Coverage can also be incomplete in TI and VS.

• Data sources — building geometry from the official cadastral survey Amtliche Vermessung (AV); building classification from the federal register GWR; terrain and surface elevation from swisstopo swissALTI3D and swissSURFACE3D. CRS: EPSG:2056 (CH1903+ / LV95).
• Technical Specification — the 4-step pipeline, AV vs GWR data model, limitations, methodology, and roadmap.
• Height Assumptions — validation study behind the floor-height lookup table and accuracy buckets.

Standards & References

Resource	Link
Amtliche Vermessung (AV)	geodienste.ch/services/av
swissALTI3D (terrain, DTM)	swisstopo.admin.ch
swissSURFACE3D (surface, DSM)	swisstopo.admin.ch
GWR (building register)	housing-stat.ch
DM.01-AV-CH data model	cadastre-manual.admin.ch
Floor-area methodology	Seiler & Seiler GmbH (2020) for Canton Zurich ARE

License

MIT — see LICENSE.