At the beginning of July 2010, the new version of the national spatial data portal www.paikkatietoikkuna.fi ('Geodata Window', in English) was released, containing a varied range of maps provided by several data producers for free-of-charge use.

Paikkatietoikkuna offers the user the possibility to browse many map levels, produced by different organisations, on different themes, such as terrain, soil and land use as well as traffic network. If the addresses and the name of the places are known to the user then the search becomes easier.

Thanks to their adjustable transparency, map levels and aerial photos can be viewed simultaneously. Antiquities and topographic maps or aerial photos and soil maps or even nautical charts and topographic maps are examples of overlapping functions. Moreover, the service enables the users to tailor a map of their interest, where this is feasible, to save the link for personal use or send it to a friend.

Initially, map data is offered by the Finnish Geodetic Institution, the Geological Survey of Finland, the Finnish Transport Agency, an IT company, the National Land Survey of Finland, the Agency for Rural Affairs, the National Board of Antiquities, the Regional Council of Southwest Finland as well as the following cities: Espoo, Jyväskylä and Turku.

Various kinds of map data are sought for the service directly from the data producers' own systems, in which case the data is available in real time.

According to the law on spatial data infrastructure, which came into operation in 2009 in Finland and the basis of which is the European INSPIRE directive, there will be more map data added to the service during the course of the next years.

In Finland, a plethora of state administrative bodies and municipalities introduce the so-called 'service interface' in their information systems. These interfaces can be used for searching data in order to browse it in applications and to develop it in maps and spatial data.

Paikkatietoikkuna is based on open source software, which can be downloaded from here.

The National Land Survey of Finland is responsible for maintaining and improving Paikkatietoikkuna in co-operation with several spatial data producers. After a year of pilot phase, the service is now open for use by all.

Further information:

• Original News Article - Finnish National Geoportal
• Related News Article - National Land Survey of Finland
• National Land Survey of Finland