Current plans into the built environment information system
Currently, zoning data is not comprehensively and nationally available in Finland to guide the use and development of areas. The goal of the VOOKA project is to export all current zoning and master plans in Finland in the national data model format to the built environment information system.
The work also includes detailed shore plans and shore master plans. The end result will be a comprehensive vector-formatted directory map, with raster-format plans and documents linked to it. The work will be carried out in close cooperation with the municipalities involved.
VOOKA is part of the Ryhti project and the development of the built environment information system
The project is coordinated by the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) and Project Manager Kaarina Vartiainen. The digitisation of zoning data will be acquired as consultancy work. Funding for the project will be requested from the Ministry of the Environment.
The main stakeholders in the project are the municipalities responsible for the zoning, with which the quality and coverage of the data is ensured in cooperation. Other stakeholders include the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities and government actors and agencies interested in the project, such as the Ministry of the Environment, the National Land Survey of Finland and the ELY Centres.
The VOOKA project is linked to the Ministry of the Environment and Syke’s Ryhti project, which is renewing the management, processing and utilisation of information concerning the built environment. The built environment information system will be implemented as part of the Ryhti project. The information system will collect information on land use and buildings in an interoperable format.
Project timeline
The VOOKA project starts with a pilot in South Savonia
June 2022
Pilot project completed
February 2023
The North Savonia project phase gets started
June 2023
The North Savonia project phase completed
January 2024
The project expands gradually to other areas
years 2024-2028
The funding received by the VOOKA project shapes its implementation.
Current plans in their entirety available in the information system
year 2029
The project began with a pilot
The VOOKA project started in June 2022 with a pilot, which was completed in February 2023. The pilot was implemented in cooperation with 12 municipalities and the ELY Centre of South Savo. During the pilot phase, around 2,700 detailed, general and shore plans of the participating municipalities were exported to the national data model format. The work was carried out by a consortium of consultants, including Ubigu, Gispo, and Plandisain.
The necessary data was obtained from the municipalities and the National Land Survey of Finland. The work involved comparing and harmonizing the data and correcting errors. The pilot also developed the automatic comparison and processing of the data, guidelines, and management model, which will help as work continues on a national level. The tools and open-source code created in the Python programming language during the pilot have been published on GitHub.
Work continues in Northern Savonia
Based on the experience gained from the pilot, it will be decided how the broader scope of work should be divided into parts and acquired. Next, the work will continue in Northern Savonia in collaboration with the region’s municipalities.
The aim is for the complete plans to be available in the information system by the 1st of January 2029. The results of the work will be published in the system even before then in parts, as the production of the material progresses.
Material
Further information about the project
Kaarina Vartiainen
Project Manager, Project Manager of the project VOOKA