A new interactive guide, launched at the Alpine Museum in Bern, will make it possible to tour the Swiss National Park without ever having to set foot in canton Graubünden.

The CD-ROM, in English and all four Swiss national languages, contains 450 pages and over 800 illustrations, along with virtual flights and interactive panoramas, covering much of Switzerland's alpine terrain.

The head of the National Park Commission, parliamentarian Andrea Hämmerle, said the CD-ROM guide heralded a new era for nature reserves in Switzerland.

Franz-Sepp Schulz, a senior official at the Federal Department of the Environment, said the launch of the CD-ROM is part of the government's plans to promote the creation of more national parks and to improve their legal status.

The first proposals will come under discussion early next year.

Switzerland's national park, which covers 169 square kilometres, near Zernez in canton Graubünden, was extended last year to include the Lakes of Macun.

Since then, there have been proposals to set up a second national park by 2009, to coincide with the centenary of Switzerland's oldest environmental organisation, Pro Natura.

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