Kaisu Harju
Senior GIS Expert
Finnish Environment Institute
Finland

Biography
Kaisu Harju (M.Sc., Geography) works as a Senior GIS Expert at the Finnish Environment Institute, which is one of the main INSPIRE data providers in Finland. She has over 15 years of versatile experience on environmental spatial data infrastructure and spatial data analysis. Recent years she has been responsible for organization’s spatial data management including data storage, delivery and metadata solutions. She also works to promote the use of GIS and spatial data, and was involved in the assessment of Finnish Environment Institute’s GIS maturity, as well as implementing the further actions based on the results of the assessment.

Abstract
The Assessment of Organisation's GIS Maturity Gives a Push to the Use of Spatial Data - The Finnish Environment Institute as a Case Study

Co-Authors:
Jaana Mikela, Service Director, Spatineo Inc.
Riitta Teiniranta, Head of the Geoinformatic Services Unit, Finnish Environment Institute

The focus of this presentation is on results of the GIS maturity assessment that was done in the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) in 2014. We present the indicators that are used to assess the maturity, show the actual results of the assessment and discuss how the results have helped SYKE to develop the use of spatial data. The GIS maturity of an organisation indicates the capability and readiness of an organisation to utilise spatial data to reach its business objectives. In a mature organisation spatial data and spatial data solutions have been integrated into the internal key processes and customer services. The GIS maturity model that was created at Aalto University in co-operation with the Finnish Inspire Network has now been further developed to a commercial product: Spatineo Roadmap. Spatineo Roadmap is a concrete web-based tool to assess organisation's current state of maturity in the utilisation of spatial data and to set a roadmap for organisational improvement. Spatineo Roadmap was used in SYKE to assess the maturity of the internal SDI, the use of spatial data in core duties and customer services, organisation's capabilities and external cooperation, such as contribution to the development of national SDI. We present the real results of the assessment and visualise the strengths and the weaknesses in the use of spatial data. Bringing out the strengths and weaknesses in the use of spatial data makes it easier to allocate resources for measures needed to make things better. We present what kind of actions has been taken in SYKE after the maturity assessment. Some actions are very practical and easy to implement, e.g. improvements in the internal communication and networking. On the other hand, the results give valuable input to the development of SYKE's data management strategy.