Cartographic traditions and the future of digital maps: A Finnish perspective

Abstract

In this article, we examine changes and trends in Finnish cartography using examples from the history of map-making and from our own empirical landscape research. Three major issues of data sources, combined uses of spatial data, and interactive spatial information services are emphasised. The Finnish map-making tradition illustrates well the close linkage between cartography, society, and surveying techniques. Sweden and Russia influenced the mapping traditions until the twentieth century. Geographers published the world’s first National Atlas in 1899. Comprehensive state-run mapping has characterised Finnish cartography from the early twentieth century onwards. New techniques and data have modernised map-making, but the recent convergence of automated positioning, wireless communication, and digital spatial information handling are currently creating previously non-existing ways of cartographic
communication. Spatial or geographic information systems enable the collection, management, and analyses of spatial information for a wide variety of uses. The contents and means of delivering cartographic information to the public is broadening and new digital spatial information services are designed for resource management, retailing, and tourism. A critical examination of data quality, visualisation, and the ethical and sociological consequences of these trends are needed to sustain the Finnish cartographic tradition in the Information Age.