Based on the discussion Category names: Switzerland Project in G2G and the approved way of how to set up Switzerland location categories, I would like to make this proposal:
1. Place names
The places names for Switzerland location categories will be taken from the 1980 version of the "Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz" (list of all Swiss municipalities) published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. This 1980 version is the basis for the "Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz" (list of all Swiss surnames with their places of origin). The "Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz" is an important tool for Swiss genealogy, so it would make sense to take this as a basis for location categories too. One other advantage would be, that 1980 is definied for the municipalities, so locations that merged later (eg. the municipality of Schlosswil that merged to Grosshöchstetten in 2018) would get their own location category. There are many municipalities that merged in the past 20 years, while there were less merges before (although they happened, eg. Bümpliz that merged to Berne in 1919).
How to know if a municipality merged? An easy lookup can be done in "Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz". If a location is listed there, eg. Schlosswil, a category can be created. If a category is not listed there, eg. Bümpliz, research can be done and will hopefully turn up with the information that this location merged with another one.
The "Gemeindeverzeichnis der Schweiz" of 1980 is not digitised yet, but the Swiss Federal Statistical Office will be digitising it at one point (at least they told me so). I can get the printed version at my local library if necessary.
2. What places should get a location category?
Similar to other countries, Switzerland would have municipalities as the lowest level categories. The category would be set up as [[Category: Municipality, Canton]]. This is how the Swiss location categories were set up by now, so there would be no change.
Also no change would be made to the location categories for cities that have the same name as the Canton, such as [[Category: Bern (Stadt), Bern]].
Only exception for the part of municipalities as lowest level would be, if many profiles are going to be added to that location. So a category for Bümpliz might be possible, if "many" profiles are going to be added, because it seems that Bümpliz was quite a liked location to marry at church and more important, is today a quarter in the city of Berne. Or if someone is going to add many profiles of a small village or hamlet. For example, I already created 58 profiles for the hamlet "Möschberg" in the municipality of Oberthal and I would like to group them with a location category.
They would also be named [[Category: Village, Canton]], as this is how villages and municipalities in Switzerland are referred to (see also location names that exist twice in Switzerland, they usually have the Canton abbreviation behind the name). For those exceptions it would be important to link from the village category to the municipality category below the Category Info Box and from the municipality to the village category.
3. As we would have the 1980 list of all Swiss municipalities as basis, no historical location categories would be created. Same for migration categories. This is for simplification, following the Italy location and migration categories, but also because categories should group profiles of the same location (meaning, same coordinates or geographical place). If using before/after templates on location categories, those profiles are no longer grouped, but split. Before/after templates make decisions more complicated, specially for members who are not fluent in local geography. Examples: for someone who lived 1900-1970 in Bümpliz in the same house, I would need to put the "before" category of Bümpliz and the "after" category of City of Berne. Or worse, I would need both "Wyl" and "Schlosswil" categories, but the coordinates would be the same. Again: we want to group profiles by their location, so having the 1980 list of all Swiss municipalities would be a good compromise.
4. Languages
Switzerland is officially speaking four languages: German, French, Italian, Romansh. This is why official documents are often published in all four languages. In practise, there are defined areas in which one language is spoken. There is a map showing those areas with their language in the Wikipedia article Röstigraben.
For simplicity, I suggest to create location categories according to this List of Swiss cantons that was posted by Isabelle Martin in 2018.
According to this list, we would not create any location categories in Romansh, as it is a minority language even in its spoken areas. Then, the municipality category itself would be created only in the language spoken there.
So, for the only French speaking Cantons of Vaud, Neuchâtel, Geneva and Jura, the location categories would be set up in French and their parent category would be only the French canton. For the only German speaking Cantons such as Zurich, Schaffhausen etc., the categories would be set up in German and their parent category would be only the German canton. Canton of Ticino would be set up in Italian. The bilingual Cantons Berne, Fribourg, Grisons and Valais would get the municipality categories in their spoken first language. As the language line is quite clear (see map above), this shouldn't be a big problem. Remaining is the only real Swiss bilingual municipality of Biel (German) / Bienne (French), which would be splitted and renamed and would get an aka-template which will mirror both languages. (In case anyone is wondering: Biel / Bienne is the only Swiss location that actually has all street name signs or locations at the public transport in both German and French. And the location at the train station is "Biel / Bienne".)
If we use the "Familiennamenbuch der Schweiz" (see: 1. Place names), this also helps with the language that should be chosen, as only one language is used for a municipality. For example: Bern not Berne, Murten not Môrat, Fribourg not Freiburg, Genève not Genf. Also: Biel not Bienne, but here an aka-template really would make sense.
No municipality categories would be set up in English, but other categories such as the migration categories, cemeteries or professions etc. are now and will be set up in English and have the English Switzerland or canton categories as parent categories. As much as I understand, it is WikiTree standard to have those categories in English.
All mid-level categories (Switzerland and all cantons, in all languages) would need to get a short explanation on how to find the municipalities.
5. Use of location categories
The Switzerland location categories can be used for birth, marriage, death, and for having lived or worked etc. at this place. And also for the "place of origin". In addition, a sticker for the place of origin could be created, see other proposal linked below.
--------
Summary:
Changes to the status quo:
- municipalities are set up according to the 1980 list of all Swiss municipalities
Expansions to the status quo:
- exceptions for villages or hamlets etc., if many profiles are going to be added
- no historical location and migration categories
- municipality categories only in their main spoken language according to this list of Cantons
- location categories can be used for birth, marriage, death, having lived or worked there and place of origin.
-------
As we are not changing much on the approved structure on Switzerland location categories, I assume that there won't be much effort needed to clean up existing categories. I offer to look through all of them, if this proposal is accepted.
See also: Proposal: Switzerland place of origin sticker
