Terminologiapankkia

Terminologiapankki is a centralized repository of standardized terminology used in Finnish public administration, education, research, and industry. It collects terms, definitions, usage notes, and multilingual equivalents to support clear, consistent communication and semantic interoperability across systems and sectors.

The bank typically includes metadata such as term, language, part of speech, definition, usage context, domain, source, status, and relations to related terms and synonyms. Entries may include language variants (Finnish, Swedish, English) and cross-references to classification schemes.

Governance and maintenance are managed by a national terminology authority or a consortium involving ministries, research institutions and agencies. Terms undergo proposals, reviews and approvals, with periodic revisions and versioning to reflect changes in policy, technology or practice. The process emphasizes consultancy with domain experts to ensure accuracy and relevance.

Access and use are provided through a web portal and, in some cases, an API. It serves government agencies, public services, academia, and industry, with open-data access for common terms and restricted access for sensitive or licensed content. Licensing terms may apply for certain datasets or integrations.

Standards and technology alignment includes international terminology standards such as ISO 704 and ISO 12620, as well as data models like SKOS and TBX. The bank may use linked data practices to enable mapping to other terminologies and cross-language search, enhancing interoperability across information systems.

Impact and significance arise from harmonizing language in legislation, policy documents, digital services, healthcare, and education. Terminologiapankki supports accurate translation, efficient information retrieval, data interoperability, and coherent public communication.