[1] Introduced in 1903, this first geographic coordinate system rested upon the two dominant methodological pillars of geodesy and cartography at the time: the Bessel ellipsoid and the Mercator projection.
Although not ideal, these approximations still offered a high level of precision in the case of Switzerland, due to the small size of its territory (41,285 km2 with max.
For instance, a difference of several meters was discovered when comparing the performance of LV03 and GPS technology in the measurement of the distance between the westernmost and easternmost areas of Switzerland (Geneva and Lower Engadin).
As a result, the Swiss Federal Office of Topography decided to launch a new land survey campaign in 1988, with the intention of gathering precise data for the development of a new coordinate system based on WGS84.
Exact formulas used for the conversion of LV95 coordinates into latitude and longitude are provided by the Swiss Federal Office of Topography in its formal documentation of the LV95 system.
[3] Although the new geographic coordinate system LV95 was introduced in 1995, it was only progressively brought to use by Swiss authorities, with the official deadline for its definitive implementation having been fixed for the year 2016.