ICC SPECIAL ISSUE 2011 CARTOGRAPHY & GEOINFORMATICS IN FINLAND Useful and usable map services. Insights into the development of spatial data infrastructure in Finland. ▶ GIS is coming to schools PAGES 5–7 ▶ Automated generalization of topographic data PAGES 17–19 ▶ Global forest mapping for carbon sink assessment PAGES 32–34 PRODUCTS & SERVICES MARKETS Aerial Imagery & Surveying Government & Public Administration LiDAR & Height Data Forestry Blom Online Services (BlomURBEX™) Environment & Renewables Blom Applications Mining & Quarrying Mapping & Modeling Transport & Infrastructure GIS Services & Analysis Defense & Security Ground Surveying Media, Leisure & Tourism Data Models & Geographical Databases Utilities Mobile Mapping Solutions BLOM DENMARK BLOM FINLAND BLOM NORWAY BLOM SWEDEN BlomInfo A/S Blom Kartta Oy Blom Geomatics AS Blom Sweden AB Masnedøgade 20 Pasilanraitio 5 Drammensveien 165 Hammarbacken 6B 2100 København FI-00240 Helsinki NO-0212 Oslo 191 49 Sollentuna Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Tel.: +45 70 20 02 26 Tel.: +358 9 229 306 0 Tel.: +47 23 25 45 00 Tel.: +46 8 578 247 00 Fax: +45 70 20 02 27 Fax: +358 9 229 306 57 Fax: +47 23 25 45 01 Fax: +46 8 578 247 01 WWW.BLOMASA.COM positio icc 2011 ▶ 3 Opening access ou are reading the third edition of the technology. PaikkaOppi special issue of Positio magazine. It service is bringing GIS reports some of the progress made in to the Finnish schools Finland in the geoinformation field. The promising users aware previous issues were published in 2007 of geographic data Yand 2003. This issue is also our national report to resources in the future. the International Cartographic Conference in Paris The research on GIS 2011 which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The maturity model for the Cartographic Society was responsible for editing first time provides organizations with a systematic this issue and it is published in co-operation with means to evaluate whether they utilize GIS in full the National Land Survey of Finland (NLS). I would extent and what are the disabling factors in their like to thank the NLS and the advertisers for their case. financial support. Last but not the least importantly, there is strong The main trend you notice reading the articles ongoing work on implementing the Spatial Data is that access to geoinformation has improved and Infrastructure in Finland. The Finnish Geoportal has government policy on its data is going towards open been opened and it received the innovation prize and even free access. I read today in a Finnish news- from Excellence Finland in their public sector series. paper that a geographic app has taken the number It is built up with open source code and therefore is one place in the Apple’s App Store, and this applica- available to others as well. tion is using free data from the NLS. Understanding the history is important, and we Another much used application in Finland is the also include an article of Swedish military mapping Journey Planner of the Helsinki Region Transport. in Finland just before the war between Sweden It is promoting the use of public transport by mak- and Russia in 1808. Finland will be hosting the ing it easy to find the routes and connections and it International Conference on History of Cartogra- even supports the planning of cycling and walking. phy in July 2013 (www.ichc2013.fi) with the theme It includes information on steep hills, coffee shops “Four elements – the Essentials of the History of and users can add new information. This is a good Cartography”. There will be many exhibitions, one example of using the power of social networks. including the Nordenskiöld map collection. This Loisto (in English sector light), software of Kart- collection is in the list of the UNESCO world herit- takeskus offers automatic routing along waterways. age. A. E. Nordenskiöld was the first man to complete It combines marine charts with topographic data the Northeast Passage. offering a clearer visual experience for both profes- We hope you find the articles in this issue inter- sional and leisure users. If you never have experi- esting and inspiring in opening access to geoinfor- enced the archipelago of Finland, I would strongly mation. ◀ advise you to do so, it is an unforgettable experience. An important aspect of “opening access” is Antti Jakobsson ensuring that people have skills to utilize new chair of the Cartographic Society of Finland 4 ◀ positio icc 2011 Contents From the editor: 3 Opening access PaikkaOppi brings GIS to schools Learning geography through one’s own discovery is the aim of a web-based GIS 5 service for Finnish schools. USEFUL AND USABLE MAP SERVICES TO everYBODY MenoMaps: multichannel maps 9 Paper maps, web maps, mobile maps, maps on a multi-touch screen – the MenoMaps projects study the multichannel use of maps and social media in support of outdoor leisure activities. Open interface of Journey Planner encourages application development 12 Intermodal door-to-door routing supports the use of public transport in Helsinki region. The development of new services is encouraged by opening access to the timetable and route data. Navigating the Baltic Sea labyrinth 14 Loisto navigation programs serve the professionals in the maintenance of fairways or in search and rescue as well as leisure boaters sailing the shallow waters. Piekka generalizes topographic data for small scale maps 17 National Land Survey has improved the production process of small scale map databases by creating an application for automated generalization. Swedish military mapping in Finland 1776 – 1805 20 Newly found Swedish military maps are giving information about the 18th century mapping of Finland. BUILDING UP spaTIAL daTA INFRASTRUCTURE Opening access to spatial data 24 The National Land Survey has opened some of its datasets to use free of charge and with extensive rights of use. This is to gain experience for further actions. National Geoportal in the core of the spatial data infrastructure 26 The National Geoportal not only provides discovery and view services but also enables publishing of embe- dded maps. The portal received a national innovation prize in 2010. GIS maturity model as a tool for developing the utilisation of spatial data 28 The capabilities of an organisation in utilising spatial data can be assessed by a GIS maturity model. Lahti leads the way in the transformation of local coordinate systems 30 Finland recently implemented a new reference frame and a new height system. The city of Lahti is giving an example in carrying out transformations to the new systems. Global forest mapping for carbon sink assessment 32 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is developing a forest monitoring system to improve the accuracy of forest resources assessment from satellites. ▶ POSITIO ICC 2011 Special ISSUE – CARTOGRAPHY AND GEOINFORMATICS IN FINLAND ▶ Editors: Kirsi MÄKINEN, [email protected], Paula AHONEN-RAINIO, [email protected] ▶ Editorial assistant PÄIVI VARIS, [email protected] ▶ Layout Pekka JUSSILA ▶ PUBLISHER: NATIONAL LAND SurveY OF FINLAND, PL 84, FI-00521 HELSINKI, FINLAND. [email protected], WWW.POSITIo-LEHTI.FI ▶ PRINTED by KirjapainO UUSIMAA, PORVOO 2011 ▶ ISSN 1236-1070 ▶ Circulation 2700 pcs. ◀ ▶ THIS ISSUE has BEEN MADE IN cooperation WITH THE CARTOGRAPHIC SOCIETY OF FINLAND C/O ANNAMAIJA KRANNILA ▶ National LAND SURVey OF FINLAND ▶ [email protected] positio icc 2011 ▶ 5 ULIVUORI T PHOTO © JUKKA © PHOTO ▶ TUULI TOIVONEN & JUHA RIIHELÄ PaikkaOppi brings GIS to schools Imagine yourself as a school kid having easy access to spatial information of your neighbourhood. Supported by an enthusiastic teacher, you could examine the patterns and interrelations of the environment. How does topography relate to vegetation, soils with land use, and what can you see from aerial photos and satellite images? How do your own field observations fit to the mapped reality? Such an idea – learning geography through own discovery – has been the basis for developing PaikkaOppi service for Finnish schools. 6 ◀ positio icc 2011 PaikkaOppi user interface is easy to use and intuitive. It allows analyses of detailed map data and aerial photos from all parts of Finland. SCREENSHOT © PAIKKAOPPI © SCREENSHOT innish curricula for upper secondary schools place in the school surroundings. The content had to changed in 2003. The renewed curricula be thematically extensive to allow multiple inspec- introduced such themes as active learning, tion angles to the environment. In addition, the technology and society, active citizenship service had to support active learning, so that your Fand media skills to all subjects. In the curricula for own mapping exercises, sharing your own data with geography, applying GIS as a tool for making your others and reporting to teachers had to be enabled. own regional analyses become reality – at least on Importantly too, the service had to be easily usable paper. In practice, teachers were puzzled by the and technically stable to make teachers to adopt it. world of different GIS software, data formats and TUULI TOIVONEN is A all the technical fuzz. Data products by Finnish Map work and group work SENIOR lecturer OF authorities were highly prized and buying them geoinformatics at THE from different sources was considered too time- fter several rounds of improvement, the UNIVersity OF HelsinKI. consuming. The principal idea of using GIS for active developers of PaikkaOppi can be quite sat- SHE has BEEN INVOLVED learning was brilliant, but the practical realisation isfied. The service has a well-functioning WITH education USING seemed impossible in many schools. Students were map interface. It allows visual analyses of GIS for MORE THAN A about to become unequal, depending on the techni- theA most detailed environmental data sets in Fin- decade. cal interest of the teachers and the budget and data land, from different topographic maps and aerial JUHA RIIHELÄ IS THE policy of the municipalities.