Taustakartta

Taustakartta, in Finnish GIS terminology, refers to a background map used to provide geographic context for other data layers. It is designed to be visually legible and support orientation, measurement, and interpretation of features shown on thematic or analytical datasets. A taustakartta typically combines several data sources, such as aerial or satellite imagery, topographic contours, roads and rail networks, administrative boundaries, bodies of water, and land cover. It is not usually the subject of analysis itself, but serves as a reference layer on which other information is mapped.

Sources and formats: Taustakartat may be provided by national mapping authorities, regional portals, municipal services, or commercial providers. They are commonly distributed as raster tile imagery or as vector basemaps that can be styled. In web mapping, the taustakartta is loaded as a basemap service (for example WMTS or vector tiles) and is designed to render quickly while maintaining legibility across scales. Licensing varies: open basemaps are typically usable with attribution, while commercial basemaps require licenses and adherence to specific terms. Users should consider scale, recency, and accuracy, as basemaps may generalize features at small scales or reflect update cycles.

In Finnish contexts, taustakartta is a standard term for such background maps and is used in public sector GIS, urban planning, education, and journalism to provide geographic context for data visualization and analysis.