Orell Füssli Kartographie

What Orell Füssli Kartographie does

Orell Füssli Kartographie AG is a Swiss cartography publisher and cartographic services firm based in Zürich, with roots dating to the 1924 acquisition of Kartographia Winterthur and independent ownership since a 1993 management buyout. The company produces and publishes high-quality printed maps and atlases under two brand families: the Orell Füssli line of educational and reference products (notably the Schweizer Weltatlas, school atlases, geological and linguistic atlases, and cantonal school maps), and the Edition MPA sub-brand covering recreational maps including TopoRando hiking maps, PanoramaRando panoramic maps, CityPocket, CitéTourisme and MaxiPlanSur city plans, and EuropeRoute street maps. Beyond publishing, the company operates an end-to-end cartographic workflow offering digital cartography, colour-managed pre-press (CtP, ISO-standard CMS), conventional and large-format digital printing, finishing, georeferencing, licensing of map material, and expert consultation and training.

The business generates revenue through four streams: direct-to-consumer e-commerce sales of published maps via the edition-mpa.ch online shop, B2B professional services for publishers, agencies, tourism organisations, and Swiss and international public authorities, licensing of cartographic content for third-party print and online products, and general-contractor printing services. Customers include Swiss schools and grammar schools via the Schweizer Weltatlas, Swiss cantonal authorities (Zurich, Graubünden, St. Gallen, Ticino, Basel, Appenzell), Swiss tourism organisations, and a long tail of individual consumers. Distribution is dual-channel: direct e-commerce and physical retail through a longstanding partnership with Photoglob AG / Buchzentrum, whose 20,000+ retail subject network provides nationwide Swiss reach that would be uneconomical for a sub-10-employee publisher to replicate on its own.

Name

Orell Füssli Kartographie

Legal name

Orell Füssli Kartographie AG

Website

https://orellkarto.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

1924

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Orell Füssli Kartographie AG is a Zürich-based Swiss cartographic publisher producing the Schweizer Weltatlas, hiking, city and geological maps, and offering pre-press, printing, and georeferencing services to schools, cantonal authorities, tourism organisations, and publishers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cartographic Map Publishing

NAICS

Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (541370)

SIC

Services-Mailing, Reproduction, Commercial Art & Photography (7330)

akta.pro primary industry

Personalized & Customized Book Print-on-Demand (Variable Data, One-to-One) (MPAJANAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Business Intelligence, Reporting & Visualization Services (BPAEAHAD), Geospatial BI & Location Analytics (HDAEAMAK)

Keywords

• Digital cartography
• Map publishing
• Pre-press services
• Educational atlases
• Offset printing

Headquarters

HQ city

Zürich

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Publishing Product Sales (E-commerce): Sale of published cartographic products (hiking maps, city maps, panoramic maps, street maps, holiday and educational maps) through the company's own online shop (edition-mpa.ch). Individual consumers purchase physical map products directly. Revenue is one-time per transaction, with repeat purchases driven by new releases and regional map coverage expansion.
2. B2B Cartographic Services: Professional services including digital cartography, pre-press, colour management, georeferencing, consultation and training, and data transfer/finishing/symbolisation offered to B2B clients (publishing houses, agencies, tourism organisations, public authorities). Revenue generated through project-based professional services engagements.
3. Licensing for Print and Online Products: Licensing of high-quality cartographic material (maps, brochure extracts, map sections) to third parties who wish to create their own products for print or online use. Customers include businesses needing up-to-date map material for publications, websites, or advertising.
4. Printing Services: General contractor printing services including multi-colour offset printing, digital printing, further processing, packing and forwarding. They work with partner printers but coordinate all print production as the prime contractor.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Orell Füssli Kartographie AG publishes and sells high-quality cartographic products (hiking maps, panoramic maps, city plans, street maps, educational atlases including the Schweizer Weltatlas, and geological/linguistic atlases) and provides professional cartographic services including digital cartography, pre-press with colour management, CtP data generation, offset and digital printing, georeferencing, map licensing, and consultation/training for B2B clients across publishing, tourism, education, and government sectors.

Product overview

Orell Füssli Kartographie AG is a Swiss cartography company with over 90 years of experience offering high-quality map products and cartographic services. The company operates two main product lines: its core Orell Füssli branded educational and reference maps (including the renowned Swiss World Atlas, Swiss school atlases and maps, geological and linguistic atlases), and the Edition MPA sub-brand covering recreational mapping (TopoRando hiking maps, PanoramaRando panoramic maps, CityPocket/CitéTourisme/MaxiPlanSur city plans, and EuropeRoute street maps). Beyond publishing, the company provides comprehensive cartographic services including digital cartography, pre-press with colour management and CtP data generation, conventional and digital printing, finishing, georeferencing, licensing, and expert consultation and training. The product portfolio serves educational institutions, public authorities, tourism organizations, and commercial clients across Switzerland and internationally.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• TopoRando: Hiking maps published under Edition MPA
• PanoramaRando
• CityPocket
• CitéTourisme
• MaxiPlanSur
• EuropeRoute
• Swiss World Atlas

Products and services

• Schweizer Weltatlas (Swiss World Atlas)
• Swiss School Maps Collection
• Geological Atlas of Switzerland 1:25,000
• TopoRando Hiking Maps
• PanoramaRando Panoramic Maps
• CityPocket / CitéTourisme / MaxiPlanSur City Plans
• EuropeRoute Street Maps
• International Map Products
• Digital Cartography Services
• Pre-press Services
• Printing, Processing and Forwarding Services
• Map Material Licensing for Print and Online Products
• Georeferencing Services Georeferencing services including geo-coding, rectification, transformation, and re-sampling for integrating scanned or digital map data with real-world coordinate systems.
• Consultation and Training

Quantifiable outcome

• Positioned as the biggest publisher of map products in hiking, tourism, city plans, and geo-services in Switzerland

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Photoglob AGcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2007Photoglob AG (also known as Buchzentrum), the leading picture postcard publisher in Switzerland, serves as the primary distribution partner for Orell Füssli Kartographie AG's map products. Photoglob stocks and sells Orell Füssli maps alongside its own catalogue of over 20,000 picture postcard subjects, travel guides, albums, and calendars. The distribution arrangement has been in place since at least 2004 when Orell Füssli took over publishing responsibility while distribution remained with Photoglob.
• MPA GéoDistribution SAcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2007MPA GéoDistribution SA is a French-speaking Swiss distribution company acquired by Orell Füssli Kartographie AG in 2007. The acquisition positioned Orell Füssli as the biggest publisher of map products in the hiking, tourism, city plans, and geo-services segments in Switzerland. The Edition MPA product line (TopoRando hiking maps, PanoramaRando panoramic maps, CityPocket, CitéTourisme, MaxiPlanSur city plans, EuropeRoute street maps) is associated with this entity.
• Bündner BuchvertriebminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBündner Buchvertrieb in Chur handles the physical shipping and logistics of Orell Füssli map products. Products are typically shipped within 2-3 working days within Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and 1-2 weeks internationally when in stock.
• HOMM interactiveminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerHOMM interactive, based in Lucerne, Switzerland, provides web design, concept, and programming services for Orell Füssli Kartographie AG's corporate website (www.orellkarto.ch) and the online shop (edition-mpa.ch).

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Outdooractive: Outdooractive is a digital outdoor and hiking platform providing interactive maps, route planning, and tour content across the Alps. It targets the same Swiss/German/Austrian outdoor recreation user base as Orell Füssli's TopoRando and PanoramaRando hiking maps, but delivers via app/web instead of paper, making it a partial-overlap emerging competitor.

Broad incumbents

• National Geographic Maps: National Geographic Maps operates a much broader cartographic franchise covering wall maps, atlases, recreation maps (Trails Illustrated), and digital licensing. It is a broad incumbent with overlapping map categories but is not a Swiss-edition specialist like Orell Füssli.
• Rand McNally: Rand McNally is a large US-based map and atlas publisher of road atlases, reference maps, and digital fleet/navigation products. It is a broad incumbent with overlapping printed atlas and map publications but a much wider portfolio and North American focus.
• Michelin Travel Publications: Michelin publishes the iconic Michelin Maps, road atlases, and travel guides worldwide as part of a much broader tire and mobility franchise. Comparable to Orell Füssli's EuropeRoute and tourist map portfolio through its cartographic publishing arm, but operating globally as part of a diversified group.

Direct peers

• Hema Maps: Hema Maps is an Australian specialist cartographic publisher of outdoor, 4WD, and touring maps and atlases. It is comparable to Orell Füssli in the production of regional outdoor recreation map lines, paper atlases, and tourism map partnerships, though it operates in a different geography.
• Freytag & Berndt: Freytag & Berndt is a long-established Austrian cartographic publisher of hiking, city, road, and country maps. It is directly comparable to Orell Füssli on product mix (regional hiking maps, city plans, atlases) and on serving tourism publishers and the public-sector market.
• Kümmerly+Frey: Kümmerly+Frey is the other major Swiss print map publisher offering hiking, cycling, road, and city maps in the same domestic market as Orell Füssli Kartographie. Both companies compete head-to-head for Swiss tourism organization, retail, and consumer map sales.
• AA Publishing: AA Publishing produces road atlases, city maps, and travel cartography for the UK market under the AA brand, closely mirroring EuropeRoute-style street maps and Orell Füssli's city plan portfolio, and shares the model of partnering with motoring/tourism clubs.
• Kompass: Kompass is a European outdoor recreation map specialist best known for its topographic hiking and cycling map series across the Alps. It is highly comparable to Orell Füssli's TopoRando and PanoramaRando product lines on outdoor mapping format, scale, and target user.
• EDT (Edizioni di Torino): EDT is an Italian cartographic and travel publisher that produces maps, atlases, and travel guides in Italy and adjacent regions. Comparable to Orell Füssli's combined publishing-plus-cartographic-services model and to Edition MPA-style regional map series.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/orellfuessli_kartographie/?hl=de

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Orell Füssli Kartographie