Building information

In addition to information about persons, the Population Information System also contains data on buildings and residences. Building information is maintained and checked in close cooperation with municipal building supervision authorities and local register offices. In international practice, building information is commonly referred to as the Building and Dwelling Register (BDR).

Information about construction projects is obtained from municipal building supervision authorities. Their duty to issue notification of construction projects is based on the Population Information Act (661/2009) and Population Information Decree (128/2010). Local register offices maintain residence details related to persons and their respective residences. Cooperating with municipal authorities, local register offices are also responsible for various changes and corrections to building information and maintaining of address and voting district information.

Cadastre (land register) authorities – district survey offices and municipal authorities – are responsible for matching buildings to the correct property by maintaining the building codes of the Population Information System.

Statistics Finland maintains municipal sub-area codes and business identity codes, which are submitted to the Population Information System at regular intervals.

The addresses, building codes and centre point coordinates of buildings form the basis of the Population Information System’s nationwide address information system. Using building and apartment codes, persons registered in the Population Information System can be linked with the centre coordinates of buildings and, using identifiers, buildings can be linked with other national base registers used in Finland. This enables the utilisation of the Population Information System in various geographical data applications.

For example the following information about buildings and construction projects is registered in the Population Information System:

  • Real estate and building code
  • Addresses of the building
  • Location coordinates
  • Municipal sub-area 
  • Name and address of the owner
  • Type of owner (for example person, housing corporation, municipality or the state)
  • Planning situation when building permit was granted (for example master plan, building plan or no plan)
  • Site ownership status (owner-occupied or rented)
  • Size (for example gross floor area and number of storeys)
  • Facilities (for example lift, sauna or swimming pool)
  • Year of construction
  • Purpose of use (for example detached house, terraced house, block of flats, summer cottage or school)
  • Network connections (incl. sewerage, water and electricity)
  • Building permits granted
  • Contact details of those granted building permits
  • Construction and facade material (for example wood, concrete or glass)
  • Method of heating (for example oil, electric or wood heating)
  • Fuel (for example oil, electricity, wood or geothermal energy)
  • Number of apartments
  • Residents in the building

For example the following information about residences is registered in the Population Information System:

  • Apartment code
  • Floor area
  • Tenure status (owner-occupied or rented)
  • Occupancy status (for example inhabited or uninhabited)
  • Number of rooms and type of kitchen
  • Facilities (for example sauna or balcony)
  • Habitants of the apartment
 
Building Register Population Information System address information system building building information building supervision authorities buildings construction project coordinates residence residences