1. GIS technology strategy of Statistics Finland
Rina Tammisto Statistics Finland, ICT Management department, Special ICT Services

2. Content Background GIS technology review
GIS technology strategy in action
A case: Traffic Accidents
GIS Technology Strategy in action in the near future
Rina Tammisto

3. Background Promotion and creation of a legitimate status when noted in
Statistics Finland’s GIS strategy (2014)
Management of geospatial infrastructure,
Relocation of personnel (to a GIS core team) and
Founding of an in-house GIS expert group.
ICT strategy for 2015 to 2018
Statistics Finland’s Strategy
Wider utilisation of GIS (to benefit customers)
More visualisation (incl. maps) on the Web
-> Recommendation that a GIS technology “Strategy” (or an action plan) should be carried out
Rina Tammisto

4. GIS technology review

5. GIS technology review 9/2015-3/2016
The report
Lists all GIS technologies used at Statistics Finland
Is the used technology up-to-date?
Has GIS been used in a natural and easy way in the production processes
The report offered three alternative technological solutions on how to handle geospatial data and its requirements in data collection, production and dissemination.
A so-called hybrid solution was chosen. The solution combines Open Source technologies with licensed GIS technologies.
E.g., Open Source products were mainly the chosen solutions for server-side functionalities or for light thematic mapping purposes (Geoserver, QGis). By contrast, licensed products were chosen (ESRI ArcGIS, SAS, SQL Server spatial data type) for professional use, e.g., for spatial analysis or spatial data editing.
Planned renewals of geospatial production and new techniques were combined with the Renewing of GIS technology at Statistics Finland ( )
Rina Tammisto

6. Chosen technologies Chosen technologies by phases of
the Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM)
Chosen technologies
5. Process
4. Collect
6. Analyse
7. Dissemination
Rina Tammisto

7. Seven GIS principles for future actions
Geospatial code of practices
THE GEOSPATIAL DIMENSION IS RECOGNISED AND GEOSPATIAL SOLUTIONS ARE MADE IN CONTROLLED MANNER
USE HIGH-QUALITY GEOGRAPHIC DATA UTILISING GEOGRAPHIC DATA SERVICES AND SERVICE INTERFACES
SPATIAL DIMENSION OF THE DATABASE IS WIDELY USED
UTILISATION OF GEOSPATIAL DATA IS AN INTEGRATED AND AUTOMATED PART OF PRODUCTION
OPEN SOURCE GIS SOFTWARE IN USE
GEOSPATIAL DATA IS UTILISED AS MAP SERVICES
EXPERT SUPPORT AVAILABLE FOR UTILISING GEOSPATIAL DATA
Rina Tammisto

8. GIS technology strategy in action

9. GIS Technological Renewals project
All decided reforms were gathered into one project. The project has four sub-projects:
Oskari catalogue (Establishment of an Oskari infrastructure)
GIS data catalogue
Embedded maps
Promoting links between published geospatial data and statistical data - and their metadata
Introducing Open Source software for production: QGIS
Designing QGIS to the technical environment of Statistics Finland
Training and creating of support material (on the intranet)
Information and guidance
Rina Tammisto

10. Harmonisation of GIS related statistical production
Promoting the use of SQL Server spatial data type
Renewing of spatial databases (stop using Esri SDE)
Renewing of production processes of core geospatial data (e.g. buildings and INSPIRE data)
Creating a service-based (SOA) geocoding service
Utilisation of service interfaces
Creating descriptions of technical architecture – Service-based GIS application
Rina Tammisto

11. Modernisation of statistics on Road Traffic Accidents
Road Traffic Accidents renewed their statistical system in 2016:
Use of QGIS in GIS related production phases
SQL Server spatial data type is utilised for geocoding
SQL Server spatial data type is used for searching descriptive data around traffic accidents spots by location
Benefits:
No Esri dependency anymore
Faster to use
A better known solution – developed by and from the point of view of the needs of statistics
Rina Tammisto

12. 1. Digiroad network can be used for locating the correct intersection
The accident in question has happened in the intersection between Pälkänevedentie and Lahdentie
1. Digiroad network can be used for locating the correct intersection
2. Open street Map database can be used for locating the correct intersection
3. Correct place (4.) is then set with the tool that replaces coordinates with one click only
Background aerial photo is provided by National Land Survey of Finland via wms-service
Plugins are being used for the manual geocoding.
Both internally developed and freely available plugins are being used for manual geocoding
2 January 2019
Etunimi Sukunimi

13. Lessons learned The GIS renewals are able to be implemented very fast
The goals need to be clear from the point of view of
The technology chosen
The statistical production process in case
Co-operation and support important between GIS professionals and statisticians
A strong technological GIS support may be needed depends on the level of technical skills of the statisticians, in our Traffic Accident case, a light guidance was enough
Rina Tammisto

14. GIS Technology Strategy in action in the near future

15. GIS Technology Strategy in action in the near future
Renewing of population related statistics (STIINA)/A National Health, social services and regional government reform (SOTE) A new governmental decision-making level
Development of Web services (the whole StatFi web infrastructure)
-> New demands to handle location and areal information in statistical production processes (e.g. as linked data)
-> For a coherent development in several statistical processes and web services - a project portfolio may be needed
-> The chosen technological GIS solutions seem to be well in line with the needs - stand as the base infrastructure to build a new service layer on it
Rina Tammisto

16. Rina Tammisto rina.tammisto@stat.fi
Thank You!
Rina Tammisto