info.laji.fi

Knowledge base of the FinBIF

Laji.fi

VirvaGIS Data Product

The VIRVA-GIS data product is a dataset maintained by the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility (FinBIF) and is compiled from species observations deemed important for authorities’ use.

Availability

The data product has two version.

The complete dataset is currently only available through the geographic information system maintained by the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE). Usage rights are granted to environmental authorities at SYKE and ELY centers who use the Authority Portal. Users must adhere to the terms of use of the Authority Portal. New observations or changes to existing ones are updated weekly. The distribution format of the data product is OGC GeoPackage.

The data is also available at geoapi.laji.fi. This version has the same data but some occurrences are coarsed or restricted. In the future, also restricted data will be added to that API with API KEY authentication.

Background

Environmental authorities utilizing species observation data in their work requested the FinBIF for a direct interface to access relevant species observations necessary for decision-making. In January 2022, the FinBIF established a working group to define a tailored data product. The working group included users of the Authority Portal who expressed interest in participating in a previous survey. The meetings focused on criteria and variables for compiling and filtering the data. Challenges identified included the confusion of data field names and definitions, interpreting location accuracy, and overlapping species observations for the same species. Based on these definitions, the Finnish Biodiversity Information Facility and the Finnish Environment Institute launched the customized GIS product for environmental authorities at ELY centers and SYKE in March 2023. The product, containing sensitive species information, was published for a limited user group utilizing SYKE’s existing user management system.

In July 2024 the geoapi.laji.fi was opened to provide the restricted version of the same data.

Data Product Content

The first version of the VIRVA-GIS product is based on previously defined criteria for the VIRVA search, intended to limit species observations that are necessary and of sufficient quality for official use from the FinBIF’s data warehouse. More information about the VIRVA search can be found here.

The criteria used include species administrative status/endangerment, observation time, accuracy, geographical location, and source-specific quality criteria. Additionally, the dataset is reduced by combining observations of the same species, time, location, and observer to avoid duplicates.

New fields relevant to official use have been added, and a significant number of extraneous fields have been removed to facilitate use. The field names have been translated into Finnish. Species observations are distributed in their original geometries in the ETRS89-TM35FIN coordinate system. Observations within the areas of ELY centers or within a 10-kilometer radius are included.

Style files have been created to support the interpretation of the data in visualizing point, line, and area observations in QGIS software. However, the data from geoapi.laji.fi has no styles.

Geometries

The data product contains the geometries of observations in their original form. Observations stored as points, lines, or areas are distributed as separate map layers according to multipoint, multipolygon, and multilinestring geometry types. Observations with geometries consisting of multiple types (“geometry collection”) are converted to multipolygon form by creating a 0.5-meter buffer around line and point geometries, as QGIS does not support “geometry collection” types directly.

VIRVA Administrative Restrictions

Below is a list of criteria for selecting species observations included in the data product.

VIRVA Administrative Restrictions (Any of the following):

  • Administrative Status:
    • Endangered species (LSA 2023/1066, Annex 6)
    • Specially protected species (LSA 2023/1066, Annex 6)
    • Animals protected throughout the country (LSA 2023/1066, Annex 1)
    • Animals protected south of the regions of North Ostrobothnia and Kainuu (LSA 2023/1066, Annex 2)
    • Plants protected throughout the country (LSA 2023/1066, Annex 3)
    • Vascular plants protected on the southern side regions of North Ostrobothnia and Kainuu (LSA 2023/1066, Annex 4)
    • Vascular plants protected in the regions of North Ostrobothnia, Kainuu, and Lapland (LSA 2023/1066, Annex 5)
    • EU Habitat Directive Annex II
    • EU Habitat Directive Annex IV
    • EU Birds Directive Annex I
    • Large birds of prey (LSL 2023/9, Section 73)
    • Migratory birds of the EU Birds Directive
  • Endangerment:
    • CR – Critically Endangered
    • EN – Endangered
    • VU – Vulnerable
    • NT – Near Threatened
  • Zero Observations:
    • Zero observations are also included
  • Observation Location Accuracy:
    • 1–1000 meters
  • Country:
    • Finland
  • Time:
    • 1990–
  • Place:
    • Coordinates / Intersection (default)
  • Quality of data by professionals:
    • Expert verified
    • Community verified
    • Not evaluated
    • Uncertain
  • Observations by knowledgeable amateurs:
    • Expert verified
    • Community verified
    • Not evaluated
  • Citizen Observations:
    • Expert verified
    • Community verified

Data Fields (Attribute Columns)

  • Tieteellinen_nimi: Scientific name of the species (Text)
  • Suomenkielinen_nimi: Finnish name of the species (Text)
  • Ruotsinkielinen_nimi: Swedish name of the species (Text)
  • Alkuperäinen_nimi: Name given by the observer (Text)
  • Havaintoerän_tunniste: Gathering identifier (Text)
  • Yhdistetty: Number of identical but separate observations at the same location (Integer)
    • The interpreted number of individuals from these observations is shown in the individual_count_interpreted field.
  • Taksonin_tunniste: URI identifier for the taxon (e.g., https://tun.fi/MX.50106) (Text)
  • Taksonominen_järjestys: Number describing taxonomic order (Integer)
  • Eliöryhmä: Informal, informative species group classification (Text)
  • Yksilömäärä_tulkittu: Interpreted numerical count of individuals based on reported individual numbers (Integer)
    • If identical observations are combined, this field shows the sum of the reported individual counts.
  • Määrä: Reported number of individuals (Text)
  • Määrän_yksikkö: Unit used to report the number of observations (Text)
  • Havaintotapa: Observation method (e.g., visual observation) (Text)
  • Sukupuoli: Sex of the observed individual (Text)
  • Esiintymän : Whether the species is present or absent at the location (i.e., zero observation) (Text)
  • Pesintäpaikka: Whether the observation is from a breeding site (Boolean)
  • Elinvaihe: Life stage of the observed individual (Text)
  • Uhanalaisuusluokka: Current endangerment class of the species (Text)
  • Sensitiivinen_laji: Whether the observed species is classified as sensitive (Boolean)
  • Lajiturva: Classification related to species protection project (Text)
  • Hallinnollinen_asema: All administrative statuses for the species (Text)
  • Ensisijainen_biotooppi: List of habitats associated with the taxon (Text)
  • Avainsanat: Keywords associated with the observation batch (Text)
  • Havainnon_luotettavuus: Reliability based on original source and quality control comments from Laji.fi (Text)
  • Havainnon_lisätiedot: Additional information about the observation (Text)
  • Määrittäjä: Name of the observer (Text)
  • Havainnoijat: List of observers/collectors (Text)
  • Keruutapahtuman_lisätiedot: Additional information about the collection event (Text)
  • Keruutapahtuman_tunniste: Identifier for the collection event (Text)
    • If identical observations are combined, all identifiers are listed in this field.
  • Aika: Dates and times of the collection event in text format (Text)
  • Keruu_aloitus_pvm: Start date of the collection event (Text)
  • Keruu_lopetus_pvm: End date of the collection event (Text)
  • Sijainti: Location name provided by the observer (Text)
  • Kunta: Municipality based on coordinates (Text)
  • Eliömaakunta: Biogeographical province based on coordinates (Text)
  • Paikan_tarkkuus_metreinä: Location accuracy in meters (Decimal)
  • Valtion_maalla: Whether the observation is on state-owned land (Boolean)
    • Information available only from LajiGIS datasets
  • ETRS_TM35FIN_WKT: Original geometries in Well-Known Text format in the ETRS89-TM35FIN coordinate system (Text)
  • ETRS_TM35FIN_N: North coordinate of the observation centroid in the ETRS89-TM35FIN coordinate system (Decimal)
  • ETRS_TM35FIN_E: East coordinate of the observation centroid in the ETRS89-TM35FIN coordinate system (Decimal)
  • Havainnon_tunniste: Observation identifier (Text)
    • If identical observations are combined, all identifiers are listed in this field.
  • Aineiston_tunniste: Collection identifier (Text)
  • Aineisto: Name of the collection (Text)
  • Aineistolähde: More specific source of the LajiGIS collection (Text)
  • Aineiston_laatu: Classification of the dataset or collection on a three-point scale (Text)
  • Karkeistuksen_syy: Reason for generalization (either for observation or personal data) (Text)
  • Havaintoerän_lisätiedot: Additional information about the observation batch (Text)
  • Atlaskoodi: Exact breeding certainty index according to the bird atlas (Text)
  • Atlasluokka: Breeding certainty class according to the bird atlas (Text)
  • Seurantapaikan_tyyppi: LajiGIS column (Text)
  • Seurantapaikan_tila: LajiGIS column (Text)
  • Seurattava_laji :LajiGIS column (Text)
  • Sijainnin_tarkkuusluokka: LajiGIS column (Text)
  • Havainnon_laatu: LajiGIS column (Text)
  • Peittävyysprosentti: LajiGIS column (Text)
  • Havainnon_määrän_yksikkö: LajiGIS column (Text)
  • Vesistöalue: LajiGIS column (Text)
  • Merialueen_tunniste: LajiGIS column (Text)
  • Vastuualue: ELY center area with 10 kilometers buffers
Scroll to top