Helsinki in 3D

The 3D Model of Helsinki is about to be updated with new imagery. Currently the city's 3D map is based on satellite imagery from 2015. Over the summer of 2017 an airplane captured 50,000 aerial photographs of the city. Now ten dedicated computers have turned those 50,000 aerial photographs into a new and improved photo realistic 3D model of the city.

The CityGML data of the city's 3D model will be released as open data early in 2019. Currently the 3D Helsinki map is used by Helsinki's urban planners. For example the city is currently running a pilot project to simulate wind speed and direction. This could then be used to model what wind circumstances would be generated by planned new buildings. In the future the city also wants the public to be able to preview planned new buildings in context on 3D Helsinki before they are even built.

You can learn more about the coming improvements to 3D Helsinki, how the map is currently used and the city's future plans for the map at The Best 3D Model in the World Improves with Age.

Beer Travel Time

The most important criteria to use when choosing a new house is the length of time it takes to get home from the best pubs. That's why Lauri Vanhala has worked out the time it takes to get to every address in Helsinki from the city's top 20 pubs.

In order to find the best places to buy property in Helsinki Lauri worked out the travel time on public transport from every address in Helsinki to every other address in the city during the morning rush-hour (7:30-8:00 am). This allowed him to see which areas were the best for commuting to work in the morning. He then worked out the travel time to every address in the city from the top 20 bars in the city after closing time (1:30 am).

You can view the results of Lauri's research on his Helsinkiläisen Parhaat Asuinpaikat map. Building footprints on the map are colored by their commuting times to work. You can view how long it takes to get to each building from the city's best pubs by clicking on the 'IPA' button. You can switch back to the work commute times by clicking on 'Duuni'.

The Historical Maps of Helsinki

There are a number of websites which allow you to explore large collections of vintage maps from around the world. However I'm still fond of the smaller dedicated websites which concentrate on providing access to vintage maps of a single city or town. Historical Helsinki is a great example of a vintage map collection of one specific location.

Historical Helsinki may only have a few vintage maps for you to explore but the site is very well designed. The map interface includes a transparency tool which allows you to make a direct comparison between the vintage maps on show and the modern day (OpenStreetMap) map of Helsinki.

I particularly like the little introduction to each vintage map in the map sidebar. This introduction not only gives a little historical context to each maps' creation but also points out some of the interesting detail contained in each map.


Helsinki Ennen is another collection of beautiful historical maps of the Finnish capital. This one also contains a number of geo-tagged vintage photographs of the city as well.

A time-line runs along the bottom of the map. Select a decade from the time-line and you can view vintage photographs of Helsinki from that decade overlaid on a map dating from the same era. Many of the photographs are also displayed side-by-side with the same view as it is seen today, using Google Maps Street View. This allows you to see how the city changed over the course of the Twentieth Century.

The Live Helsinki Tram Map

Sporat Kartella is a live animated map of Helsinki's HKL tram network. The map shows the live location of all Helsinki's trams in real-time.

The map allows you to view individual tram lines or to view your own combination of any or all of the tram lines. If you turn on a tram line using the numbered buttons on the map you can view the line overlaid on a Google Map and see the real-time location of all trams on the line.

Individual trams can be followed on the map in real time. Each numbered tram map marker includes a small trail to indicate the direction of travel.

If you like real-time transit maps then also check-out Real-time European Transit Maps and the transit & real-time tags on Maps Mania.

Time Travel in Helsinki

Last week I was very impressed with Our Town Stories - Edinburgh. Much of the appeal of Our Town is that you can view vintage photos of the Scottish capital overlaid on historical maps of the city.

Helsinki Ennen is another collection of beautiful historical maps and photographs, this time for the Finnish capital. A time-line runs along the bottom of the map. Select a decade from the time-line and you can view vintage photographs of Helsinki from that decade overlaid on a map dating from the era.

Many of the photographs are also displayed side-by-side with the same view as it is seen today, using Google Maps Street View. This allows you to see how the city has changed over the course of the Twentieth Century.