The new land information system in Finland
Tella, Ari
On June 1, 2005 a new land information system (the LIS) was launched in Finland as a result of collaboration between 86 municipalities and the National Land Survey of Finland (the NLS). To provide a legal framework for the development of the LIS, an Act had been passed about two years earlier declaring the planned LIS the official real estate register, which meant that it would replace the 87 separate cadastres used at the time. Accordingly, the new LIS holds attribute and spatial data on all real estates in Finland. Prior to 2005, attribute data maintained by the NLS and the municipalities were copied into and maintained in the old LIS, whereas spatial data were exclusively stored in the separate systems maintained by the NLS and the municipalities. The loading of the real estate data from the municipalities was carried out at a swift pace in the spring of 2005, and the maintenance of the data commenced separately in each municipality once the loading was completed. A maintenance application is used for recording any changes in the cadastral data that have resulted from cadastral surveys carried out and related decisions made throughout Finland. The register-keeping application used in connection with the maintenance is based on Smallworld software originally used for building a system introduced in 1998 for maintaining cadastral data at the NLS. In the new LIS, the municipalities are able to transfer data from their own systems to the registerkeeping application via an XML interface for use as initial data. The terminal server technology allows the municipalities to use the application. The system provides data services in three different ways: Various customer service points and authorities have access to a web application with a map interface; the municipalities are able to update data in their own systems through a data service application, which supplies changed cadastral data; and the cadastral data in the LIS are accessible to external systems through a software interface. The data service applications rely heavily on XML- and Javabased interface technology. The introduction of the new system brought about improvements in many fields. As a result, the real estate data maintained by the NLS and municipalities are more uniform, data quality has improved and the applied procedures no longer differ to such a great extent. All real estate data (including the related spatial data) are now stored in one coherent database and available nationwide through an information service.
Event: XXIII International FIG Congress : Shaping the change
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