The initial cadastral maps were produced so that the secular and/or ecclesiastical authorities could collect taxes. Later on, all efforts to introduce a uniform cadastre came to an abrupt halt following the demise of the Helvetic Republic. With the exception of Switzerland’s first order triangulation, surveying was carried out by the cantons and in different ways.

Cadastres had already been compiled in the pre-Christian era in order to collect landownership taxes. From the middle of the 17th century, a number of large-scale plans were produced, which were also used as the basis for calculating tithes and interest payments to be made to a civil and/or secular authority.

In France, work was initiated in 1790 on a general survey of plots of land and the development of a cadastre. Following the invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte and the establishment of the “Helvetic Republic”, the idea of introducing a cadastre for the whole of Switzerland based on the French model was considered. However, the course of history prevented the creation of a centralised cadastre, and land surveying was developed at the cantonal level and in varying forms. 

In 1804, the parliament of the canton of Vaud commissioned a survey of every municipality and the establishment of landownership and valuation registers. Geneva followed suit between 1806 and 1818, and Basel from 1818 until its separation into two cantons in 1833. A cantonal surveyor was in fact appointed in Basel in 1806, although the first land parcel surveys did not take place until 1818. 

Johannes Eschmann (1808–1852) closed the last remaining gaps in the first order triangulation. This task, comprising the calculation of the entire network, including the secondary triangulations, brought the triangulation work to a provisional conclusion. In 1840 he published this work as «Results of the trigonometric surveys of Switzerland».