Place of Memory
Welcome to the National Land Survey of Finland’s history website, www.mapscroll.fi. This site will take you through five centuries of land survey in Finland, describing their impact on the land and its inhabitants. The www.mapscroll.fi website is the memory of land survey.
You can access the Archive Centre and the Land Surveying Museum from these pages. Whether you are a traveller, scientist, student or land survey professional, or just interested in the subject, www.mapscroll.fi is your window to the multi-faceted world of land survey.
Measure of Land
The Measure of Land is an online exhibition on the history of land survey which takes you on a journey through the multifaceted world of land survey. It illustrates the role land survey has played in Finnish society and strives to answer the question: what is the measure of land?
Visit the image bank on this page to view the images shown on the Mapscroll.fi website, including historical photos and maps.
- Mr Struve in a nutshell
- Struve Geodetic Arc – from the Danube Delta to the shores of the Arctic Ocean
- Arc measurement
- View the Struve Geodetic Arc on the map
- World Heritage Sites in Finland
Mr Struve in a nutshell
Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve was born into a renowned family of astronomers in Holstein, Germany, in 1793. He entered the University of Tartu at the age of 15 to study philology, but soon turned his attention to astronomy. Struve became professor in mathematics and astronomy in 1820.
Struve later moved to the St. Petersburg area and established an astronomical observatory in Pulkovo, which soon achieved a reputation as the world's leading observatory. Struve was also a founder of the Russian Geographical Society and member of forty academies of science.
In Russia, Struve was known as Vasily Yakovlevich, although he preferred the first name Wilhelm – he also later added the prefix ’von’ to his last name. F.G.W. Struve married twice and fathered 18 children. He died in Pulkovo in 1864.
Importance of Land
An esoteric science, or just dull fiddling with numbers? Land surveying may seem like an obscure branch of science, but it is actually very much present in our daily lives. We use land survey information and geographical data every day without paying much attention to the fact. The examples found on this page were designed as tools for teachers and to provide insightful learning experiences.
This page contains learning material designed to help you consider what land means for all of us. Teachers of various subjects can use the exercises to demonstrate the practical relevance of the topic at hand.