Advancing Location Intelligence through Geospatial Data APIs in Finland

The National Land Survey of Finland (NLS) has pioneered the use of geospatial Data APIs to transform how spatial data is delivered, accessed, and utilized across Finland.Since 2004, NLS has delivered 39 API services across 33 projects, organized into three categories: Public Data APIs, Companion Data APIs, and Internal Data APIs.

These services provide direct access to geospatial, cadastral, and land registry datasets. While most geospatial data is open and freely available, cadastral and land register data services are chargeable, except for the cadastral index map. A flagship example is the Raster Map Data API (WMTS), which in 2020 alone transmitted over 17 billion raster map tiles, equivalent to a sustained 535 tiles per second around the clock. By adopting a robust API-first approach, Finland enables businesses, government institutions, and individuals to integrate real-time authoritative datasets directly into their workflows, mobile applications, and digital services without the burden of maintaining large datastores.