My Espoo on the Map material now available as open data

4.3.2024 13.22

In autumn 2020, Espoo carried out an extensive My Espoo on the Map survey in cooperation with Aalto University. The map-based survey collected residents’ experiences and views on their everyday environment and its development. The survey yielded 6,600 responses. Respondents made 70,000 markings and comments in the survey. The responses have been utilised as initial data for Espoo Master Plan 2060, which is currently being prepared.

The City Planning Department wanted to collect residents’ experiences of how they experience their everyday environment and what elements in this environment are important to them, as well as how they operate and move around in their everyday environment. At the same time, the department wanted to collect views on how the city should be developed so that it would be an even better place to live.

In autumn 2020, the Espoo City Planning Department, in cooperation with Aalto University, carried out an extensive map-based My Espoo on the Map survey. Approximately 6,600 Espoo residents from different parts of the city responded to the survey. Respondents made 70,000 markings and comments in the map survey. The survey was open to all. A survey tailored for children and young people yielded over 2,400 responses, mainly from pupils in grades 6 and 9.

Residents’ experience-based knowledge to be part of city planning

The responses received have been used as initial data for the city-wide Master Plan 2060, which is now being prepared, but also in many other smaller projects in different city organisations.

“City planning is most present in residents’ everyday life, in how they experience their everyday environment. The respondents gave us valuable information about which elements in their everyday environment are important and how residents act and move around in their daily life. At the same time, we wanted to collect views on how the city should be developed so that it would be an even better place to live,” says Laura Malm-Grönroos, Researcher at the City Planning Department.

The map markings received in response to the survey are now publicly available as open data (excluding home markings). The map markings contain information about the question categories of the survey and the main categories of the responses. The material does not include markings related to the respondents’ background information or homes, nor the actual responses written by the respondents themselves. There were some questions that were not included in the survey for children and young people. Markings related to everyday places and special places also include information about the mode of transport and the experience of the place.

In the map surveys, the accuracy of the locations of the map markings received can vary greatly between respondents. The responses contain both approximate and very accurately marked map markings. The responses may also contain some items unintentionally marked by respondents.

Published datasets (5 sets) can be found at: https://hri.fi/data/en_GB/dataset/mun-espoo-kartalla-kyselyn-vastaukset(external link, opens in a new window)

Datasets can be opened with a geographic information programme, for example Qgis.

Everyday places
Special places
Construction places
Centres
Development ideas