Link to GitHub: https://github.com/luomus/FinBIF-QGIS-plugin
Overview
The FinBIF API Plugin for QGIS allows users to fetch openly available data from the FinBIF API and load it directly into QGIS. This plugin provides a user-friendly interface to query the FinBIF API and visualize the data on a map.
Features
- Fetch data from the data warehouse endpoint of FinBIF API
- Load data into QGIS as vector layers
- Support for various query parameters including taxon, geographical, and quality parameters
- User-friendly interface
Installation
- Go to the “Plugins” menu in QGIS and start typing “FinBIF” into the search bar. Click the plugin “FinBIF_QGIS_Plugin” and install it.
- The plugin should be visible on the QGIS toolbar
Usage

Things to Note
- An access token is required to use the FinBIF API.
- Check the accuracy of your search criteria before starting a query to avoid unnecessarily burdening the API with requests for millions of records.
- The plugin only retrieves open data. As a result, the location/time information for sensitive species may be coarsened for some sensitive species. Read more about Sensitive Data.
- Taxon IDs and collection ID can be found from laji.fi page when searching for different species, collections, or taxon groups and copying the ID from the URL when the search is performed.
- Taxon IDs are in the form of MX.12345
- Collection IDs are in the form of HR.12345
- Informal taxon groups are in the form of MVL.12345

The plugin is designed to facilitate the use of species observation data in QGIS. Feedback is welcome.