Datasets free of charge
The National Land Survey of Finland (NLS) has opened some of its datasets to be used free of charge with extensive access rights. The aim of opening the datasets is to promote the use of spatial data as well as the creation of new applications and innovations.
What can be used free of charge are place name products, general map products in scales 1:1 000 000 and 1:4 500 000 and municipal division products in vector and raster format. The datasets can be used for private and commercial purposes, be published, further licensed and attached to other products and services. The only restriction is that the original source and the publication year of the data, for instance © National Land Survey of Finland 2011, must be indicated when using the datasets. When downloading datasets, the downloader’s contact information and the purpose of use of the product will be collected in order to follow up the use and to compile statistics.
Downloading from websites completely free of charge
The datasets can be downloaded from this website in the current national coordinate system ETRS-TM35FIN. Downloading is completely free of charge. If you require the products to be delivered in any other way (for instance on CD), you can place a separate order. Place name products or general map prod-ucts in scales 1:1 000 000 and 1:4 500 000 in vector and raster format can also be ordered in the old KKJ basic coordinate system. For such deliveries we charge the detachment costs, otherwise the terms of use for the datasets remain the same.
Vector, raster and text file
The place name products are in text format. Municipal division products and general map products in scales 1:1 000 000 and 1:4 500 000 are available in vector and raster format.
Products in vector format are used in spatial data applications and the dataset format has to be selected in accordance with the application. These do not include description technique, but are composed of information formed of lines, points and areas with feature data.
Products in raster format are in fact image files that look like maps. In spatial data applications they can be bound to the coordinate system using a separate file. The format must then be selected according to the application. Files in TIFF and PNG formats can also be opened using an image processing program without information on coordinates.
The place name dataset is a text file, in which each name is provided with location coordinates and feature data.
Place names and Municipal division raster directly to the application from the interface
Place names are available to order through the interface service: Nomenclature search service (WFS). Up to 300 searches can be made free of charge in one day. A yearly maintenance fee is charged for searches exceeding this limit, the size of which depends on the number of searches made in the service.
Municipal division rasters are available at the Service interface for raster datasets (WMS) , only in Finnish on the NLS website. The municipal division rasters are priced similarly to the other products in the service.
The use of the interface service requires purchasing or building an application intended for the utilization of the service. When using the interface service the users do not have to store the datasets themselves or attend to updating them, while always having the most up-to-date data at hand.
Search on the Mapsite
The datasets including place names and general maps in scales 1:1 000 000 and 1:4 500 000 can also be studied on the Mapsite. Map search by place name is carried out using the place name datasets and maps in scales 1:800 000, 1:2 000 000 and 1:4 000 000 are the same datasets in raster format.