About the system
The built environment information system (Ryhti) is a new nation-level information system for Finland. It brings together in one place the land use and construction data from the information systems of municipalities and central government authorities, making this information easy to access.
The main services of the information system have been completed, and the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) continues its further development.
The data storage services were launched in 2024, and the data dissemination services were opened in stages during 2025 and 2026. Municipalities and regional councils will start providing data to the system gradually, from the end of 2028 at the latest.
The Finnish Environment Institute is responsible for developing and maintaining the system. The new approach will bring greater ease and clarity to information management of the national built environment.
Why is this information system being built?
In Finland, detailed data on the built environment has historically been scattered, inconsistent, and difficult to access.
The data has been spread across various systems and difficult to access due to inconsistent formats, gaps, and mutual incompatibility between the systems themselves.
Information management for the built environment is therefore being reformed so that data on area use and construction will be more easily available and provided in a standardised format. The new operating model is based on jointly agreed information structures, legislation, and having the information available in one place.
Data to support many official tasks
The built environment continuously generates valuable data that can be used to improve the functionality of our living environment. We need data on matters such as the health, safety, and energy efficiency of the environment and any foreseeable changes to the environment. Data plays a key role in building sustainable living environments and helps prepare for environmental crises.
Through the Built Environment Information System, information on building permits and planning regulations will be available nationwide in a secure, machine-readable format.
Connected to key government systems
The built environment information system is integrated into the Government’s overall information management system, whose other components include, for example, the property, population and business information system. The built environment information system is designed to connect with other systems so that each one can retrieve information from the others. State actors will only need to make each information request once.
In the future, the core data on land use and buildings (e.g. purpose of use, building rights) will be available only in this new system – from where it can be retrieved by other state information systems or other organisations requiring the information. At the same time, the new information system will utilise information from other systems, such as property, apartment and owner data.
Ryhti brings together national data resources
2019 saw the creation of improved opportunities for national development through the provision of funding linked to the Finnish Government Programme. The digitalisation of the built environment in Finland was carried forward by the Ryhti project, which ran from 2020 to 2025. The budget for the project was set to 21.9 million euros — an investment designed to pay itself back as the data management system develops.
The data must be interoperable so that it can be transmitted in a machine-readable format and can be interpreted in the same way by both sender and the recipient. As part of the Ryhti project, extensive work was carried out to develop built environment information interoperability by defining an interoperable data format.
As a result of these efforts, information resulting from land use planning and construction permit processes will be made available in a standardised format. The national Built Environment Information System was constructed through broad-based cooperation.
The system was designed in such a way that content can be added to it later on and new links can be created with other systems. Although the Ryhti project concluded in 2025, the work to further digitalise the built environment continues.