The National Land Survey of Finland (NLS) safeguards land ownership and the credit system by maintaining information about properties and housing company shares in its registers, and by taking care of the registration of their ownership and mortgages. In addition, the NLS maintains topographic data and produces maps, aerial photos and laser scanning data throughout Finland. The NLS is also an international researcher and specialist in geospatial data.

The goals defined in the NLS sustainability programme are: 

1. We offer information, research results and innovations as extensively as possible for others to use and further develop.
2. We develop our datasets and services in cooperation with our customers and partners.

In 2024, we will promote the following sustainability acts:

• We will use new collection methods and positioning equipment to promote the joint use of geospatial data.
• We will increase the benefits of cooperation in public administration and the geospatial data sector by using open source solutions more broadly and by participating actively in the activities of the open source network.
• We will promote the protection of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites and support regional land use planning by identifying the addition of Finland’s World Heritage Sites to the national topographic database.

In 2023, we promoted the following sustainability acts:

• We will develop more efficient, accurate and reliable methods for drone positioning, navigation, and data analysis. We will be part of the LIFT Future Aerospace Center network. We will promote the transition to low-emission and autonomous aviation.
• We will publish the Hakuna library as open source code. The solution will produce interface services compliant with OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) standards. We will continue to promote co-development.

In 2022, we promoted the following sustainability acts:

• We strengthen customer orientation by expanding how we collect customer feedback. We develop continuous measurement of customer satisfaction and related performance targets. 
• We promote the upgrade of the topographic data production system using open-source solutions. We strive for co-development and share the results of development in accordance with open-source community policies.
• We promote the following long-term goal in the Mammoth and LaserVesi projects. The basic geographical data we produce is used in society, for example, in research and as a basis for various datasets.
• We are increasing the proportion of our open access research publications to 75 per cent. It promotes openness and ethics in research and science. 

Read more in the sustainability report

In the National Land Survey’s sustainability report for 2023 (pdf), you can read more about what the National Land Survey’s data that serves society is.