Yleiskartat

Yleiskartat is the Finnish term for a family of general-purpose topographic maps produced by the Finnish National Land Survey, known in Finnish as Maanmittauslaitos. The series provides a broad representation of the Finnish landscape, combining natural features and human-made elements for everyday use. They are intended for navigation, planning, education, and outdoor activities across Finland, from urban centers to remote areas.

The maps depict a range of features, including terrain and elevation, bodies of water, coastlines, land cover and vegetation, as well as roads, railways, built-up areas, and administrative boundaries, with place names. They are produced in both raster and vector formats and are regularly updated to reflect changes in infrastructure, land use, and natural features. The Yleiskartat are designed to be interoperable with other geospatial data layers within Finland’s national spatial data infrastructure.

Access and distribution: While historically published on paper in various scales, today the Yleiskartat are primarily available digitally through national map services such as Kartta.fi and the Maanmittauslaitos online portal. The digital maps are widely used in education, planning authorities, outdoor recreation, GIS workflows, and by the public.

Origin and development: The concept originates from Finland’s long-standing tradition of national topographic surveying. In the digital era, Yleiskartat form part of the base map framework and are maintained in cooperation with other data layers and civil servant-led geospatial infrastructure, with periodic updates to keep pace with changes in the landscape.

See also: Maanmittauslaitos, Kartta.fi, Kantakartta.