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NATIONAL REPORT OF FINLAND FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY, REMOTE SENSING, 
GIS AND DIGITAL MAPPING 2000-2004 
Pyysalo, U., Editor 
The Finnish Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 
fsprs@foto.hut.fi 
KEY WORDS: Finland, National Report 
ABSTRACT: 
The national report of Finland outlines education and research developments in photogrammetry, remote sensing, GIS during period 
2000-2004. The national report is based on papers and reports submitted to The Finnish Society of Photogrammetry and Remote 
Sensing by institutes and organizations active in the field of photogrammetry, remote sensing and GIS. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
The photogrammetric scientific research in Finland is conducted 
in Helsinki University of Technology, Department of 
Photogrammery and Remote Sensing and Finnish Geodetic 
Institute, Department of Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry. 
Also some companies have made remarkable research for their 
commercial products. In addition research concerning remote 
sensing is conducted in Laboratory of Space Technology, 
Helsinki University of Technology. Application areas of remote 
sensing in Finland are for example forestry, geography, geology 
and ice monitoring. Research related to these is done in several 
laboratories and institutes. 
National organizations, municipal surveying offices and private 
companies practice mapping in Finland. The national 
organizations concentrate on small-scale mapping covering the 
whole country. Municipal surveying offices and private 
companies make large-scale maps related to their projects. 
Education of surveying at the university level is centred at the 
Helsinki University of Technology (HUT) at the Department of 
Surveying. Fundamentals of photogrammetry and remote 
sensing are given also at some other universities. Three 
Geoinformation professorships exist is Finland. 
2. OVERVIEW TO DEVELOPMENT OF 
PHOTOGRAMMETRY 
Major development in photogrammetry in Finland during the 
past four years has concentrated to following topics: 
e Direct georeferencing in aerial image acquisition 
e Airborne laser scanning 
e Terrestrial laser scanning 
e Testing digital aerial camera 
Direct georeferencing refers here to determination of image 
orientations from GPS/INS data and calibration parameters. The 
Aerial Image Centre, National Land Survey of Finland, has two 
GPS/INS units. Several tests have been carried out and results 
have been promising. Technique is expected to become 
operational in the future. 
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Airborne laser scanning techniques have been taken into 
operational use by national and private mapping organizations. 
Typical application area is road planning and construction and 
digital terrain model acquisition. Research is carried out 
concerning laser scanning quality, change monitoring, mapping 
and laser scanning in forestry. Airborne laser scanning systems 
has been rented from abroad. Terrestrial laser scanning system 
is alternative and supporting system to close range 
photogrammerty. At least one system has been provided by 
Finnish company and services are offered for scanner 
calibration. Terrestrial laser scanning has been applied to 
industrial measurement. 
3. OVERVIEW TO DEVELOPMENT OF REMOTE 
SENSING 
The Finnish remote sensing activity concentrates in the 
following three fields: construction of airborne microwave 
sensors, retrieval of geophysical parameters from air- and 
spaceborne optical and microwave sensors, and development of 
operational applications. In all of these ficlds remote sensing 
has been developed during the reporting period. Most resources 
have been used for developing operational applications in crop 
yield estimation, snow mapping, sea ice monitoring, forest 
inventory, SAR interferometry for determining digital elevation 
models and monitoring the environmental impact of mining 
activities. In sensor construction the main emphasis has been in 
developing microwave radiometers (interferometric) and 
radiometer calibration systems. Modeling of spectral signatures 
of snow, sea ice, forest and soil has been carried out during the 
reporting period. 
During the past four year period operational use of satellite 
images has tripled in environment monitoring. Application 
areas are crop yield estimation, snow mapping. sea ice 
monitoring, oil spill detection, forest inventory and topographic 
database updating. In private markets interest in satellite image 
usage is focused on change detection and digital terrain model 
creation.