The Land Surveying Museum

The Land Surveying Museum stores and displays objects and other material related to land survey operations in Finland. Located in Jyväskylä in connection with the NLS Archive Centre, the museum’s collections include approximately 2,000 objects, 3,000 photos and a range of archive material.

The Land Surveying Museum’s permanent exhibition ”Land Survey in Finland” illustrates the development of land survey operations in Finland by means of various objects, photos and maps. A range of past and present instruments testify to the development of cadastral surveys. The exhibition also includes a theodolite, a surveyor’s level and other instruments used in geographical surveys, and various astronomical instruments. There is also a range of cartographic tools on display.

The Land Surveying Museum is open for visitors upon agreement.
Contacts: Amanuensis Niko Saatsi.
National Land Survey of Finland, Land Surveying Museum
Oikokatu 11, 40700 Jyväskylä
tel. +358 541 6935
info.ark@maanmittauslaitos.fi

The Measure of Land online exhibition

What is the measure of land? The Earth's circumference is 40 000 kilometres and its mass is 5.9737×10²⁴ kg. But how can we measure land without using such units of measurement? What is the meaning of land? Why is land important? What is the cultural measure of land?

Image bank

Are you looking for illustrations? The NLS image bank contains images shown on the Mapscroll.fi website.

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.

World Heritage

The fascinating Struve Geodetic Arc – a tour de force in land surveying before the satellite era – is the sixth Finnish site accepted to the UNESCO World Heritage List. What makes the Struve Geodetic Arc particularly interesting as a World Heritage site is that it is not actually visible. The significance of the Arc lies in the effort put into its creation.

This page will tell you how the Struve Geodetic Arc came to be created. You can also follow its route, which nowadays runs through ten states. Six of the station points selected for protection are located in Finland.

Exercises for schools

What is land? Is it just the foundation on which everything else is built?

Tips for teachers

Tips for teaching and an invitation to contribute to the development of the material

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.

Karttakäärö