Tutkimusinfrastruktuuri ‘Suomen lajitietokeskus – FinBIF’
Päärahoittaja
Rahoittajan antama koodi/diaarinumero: 345770
Päärahoittajan myöntämä tuki (€)
- 257 136,00
Rahoitusohjelma
Hankkeen aikataulu
Hankkeen aloituspäivämäärä: 01.01.2022
Hankkeen päättymispäivämäärä: 31.12.2026
Tiivistelmä
Director Leif Schulman
Deputy Director Aino Juslén
Funding period applied for: 60 months (01/2022–12/2026)
The research infrastructure (RI) FinBIF was established to accelerate the digitisation, mobilisation and open-
access distribution of biodiversity (BD) data, and to boost its use in research, decision-making, education and
business.
FinBIF is a distributed but integrated e-infrastructure. It includes multi-source data mobilisation, ICT
development for data management and distribution, data management and analysis services, and a cross-
sectoral network of data providers and users. Data providers and data-generating processes feed data to existing
or FinBIF-made databases from which it goes through a standardisation and annotation process into FinBIF’s
data warehouse to form one fit-for-use data mass controlled for legal use restrictions. The open data and
services are provided through a one-stop-shop portal at www.laji.fi. A small share of the data is restricted-use
data provided to authorised officials through a parallel portal, but also to researchers, on a discretionary basis,
through a data request service.
FinBIF is in an operational stage but service development for additional research areas continues. FinBIF
offers six types of services:
1. Provision of BD data for research and other uses. Through compiling a consolidated body of Big Data,
FinBIF enables researchers to identify past, current and rapidly evolving BD patterns.
2. A reference library of DNA barcodes of Finnish species. This enables the identification of species based
on DNA, also in environmental samples.
3. Imaging of specimens. Researchers and educators may acquire high-resolution images or 3D scans of
natural history specimens for analysis and for illustrations in publications or teaching material.
4. Data management services. A collection management system has been developed and provided to all
Finnish natural history collections. Platforms for managing observational data are tailor-made for
research and data-gathering projects. Data management advice is given to research groups.
5. Research use services. FinBIF provides a data dashboard and an R programming language interface to
the FinBIF application programming interface (API). Automated species identification from sounds and
DNA is under development.
6. Educational services. An e-learning environment of Helsinki University is integrated with FinBIF’s IT
systems and data resources supporting independent learning of species identification. FinBIF hosts
iNaturalist Finland, which can be used for training in species identification.
FinBIF’s core national partners are the country’s five largest natural history collection (NHC) institutions: The
Finnish Museum of Natural History (Luomus) of the University of Helsinki, the Biodiversity Units of the
Universities of Turku (UTU) and Oulu (UO), and the NHCs of Jyväskylä University (JYU) and the City of
Kuopio (KUO). In the ongoing development cycle (ends in 2022), also the Natural Resource Institute (Luke)
takes part. The current proposal adds the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE; leader of the proposal) to the
core consortium.
FinBIF is the national node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), of which Finland is a
member. FinBIF core partners also form the national node of the Distributed System of Scientific Collections
(DiSSCo), an ESFRI roadmap RI.
Deputy Director Aino Juslén
Funding period applied for: 60 months (01/2022–12/2026)
The research infrastructure (RI) FinBIF was established to accelerate the digitisation, mobilisation and open-
access distribution of biodiversity (BD) data, and to boost its use in research, decision-making, education and
business.
FinBIF is a distributed but integrated e-infrastructure. It includes multi-source data mobilisation, ICT
development for data management and distribution, data management and analysis services, and a cross-
sectoral network of data providers and users. Data providers and data-generating processes feed data to existing
or FinBIF-made databases from which it goes through a standardisation and annotation process into FinBIF’s
data warehouse to form one fit-for-use data mass controlled for legal use restrictions. The open data and
services are provided through a one-stop-shop portal at www.laji.fi. A small share of the data is restricted-use
data provided to authorised officials through a parallel portal, but also to researchers, on a discretionary basis,
through a data request service.
FinBIF is in an operational stage but service development for additional research areas continues. FinBIF
offers six types of services:
1. Provision of BD data for research and other uses. Through compiling a consolidated body of Big Data,
FinBIF enables researchers to identify past, current and rapidly evolving BD patterns.
2. A reference library of DNA barcodes of Finnish species. This enables the identification of species based
on DNA, also in environmental samples.
3. Imaging of specimens. Researchers and educators may acquire high-resolution images or 3D scans of
natural history specimens for analysis and for illustrations in publications or teaching material.
4. Data management services. A collection management system has been developed and provided to all
Finnish natural history collections. Platforms for managing observational data are tailor-made for
research and data-gathering projects. Data management advice is given to research groups.
5. Research use services. FinBIF provides a data dashboard and an R programming language interface to
the FinBIF application programming interface (API). Automated species identification from sounds and
DNA is under development.
6. Educational services. An e-learning environment of Helsinki University is integrated with FinBIF’s IT
systems and data resources supporting independent learning of species identification. FinBIF hosts
iNaturalist Finland, which can be used for training in species identification.
FinBIF’s core national partners are the country’s five largest natural history collection (NHC) institutions: The
Finnish Museum of Natural History (Luomus) of the University of Helsinki, the Biodiversity Units of the
Universities of Turku (UTU) and Oulu (UO), and the NHCs of Jyväskylä University (JYU) and the City of
Kuopio (KUO). In the ongoing development cycle (ends in 2022), also the Natural Resource Institute (Luke)
takes part. The current proposal adds the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE; leader of the proposal) to the
core consortium.
FinBIF is the national node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), of which Finland is a
member. FinBIF core partners also form the national node of the Distributed System of Scientific Collections
(DiSSCo), an ESFRI roadmap RI.
