International evaluation: Finland among world leaders in geospatial research 

A group of international experts that evaluated the quality and impact of research at the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute FGI of the National Land Survey considers these as excellent. The evaluation report was published today, on 10 February 2023. 

According to the expert group, scientific research at the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute is of outstanding international standard and FGI’s expertise is highly respected around the world. FGI is governed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, but wide use of its scientific research is made in different sectors of society, including in transport and communications, security, defence, and environmental issues and construction.

The evaluation found that the merger of the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute into the National Land Survey of Finland at the beginning of 2015 proved to be a good solution. However, to make sure that FGI continues to stay among the world leaders requires that its special characteristics as part of the National Land Survey of Finland are taken into account. The evaluation drew special attention to the Metsähovi Geodetic Research Station, which is one of the highest-level venues in the world in terms of its research infrastructure.

Scientific research at FGI is related to e.g. measuring the Earth’s crustal movements, maintaining the national coordinate systems, developing satellite positioning services, extensive opportunities for drone technology applications in environmental inventories, and utilising different spatial data sets in controlling climate change. The fields of research are geodesy and geodynamics, remote sensing and photogrammetry, navigation and positioning, and geoinformatics and cartography.

The evaluation of the activities of the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute, commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, was conducted in 2022. The evaluation panel was chaired by Rector of the University of Jyväskylä Keijo Hämäläinen. The international experts were Professor Dieter Fritsch from Germany, Professor Anna Jensen from Denmark and Professor Sandra Verhagen from the Netherlands.

Publication: Evaluation of the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute, FGI

Inquiries:
Jaana Husu-Kallio, Permanent Secretary, Chair of the steering group of the evaluation, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, tel. +358 40 029 1910, jaana.husu-kallio(at)gov.fi
Keijo Hämäläinen, Rector, Chair of the evaluation panel, University of Jyväskylä, tel. +358 40 680 0215, keijo.hamalainen(at)jyu.fi
Mikko Peltonen, Research Director, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry tel. +358 295 162 296, mikko.peltonen(at)gov.fi