Thank you for checking out my personal geo-data-art project. I wanted to share a few notes on what you’re seeing, as it’s not a traditional map, but a piece of art designed to evoke emotion and show the country in a new light.
**1. Data Art, Not an Atlas**: Its goal isn’t navigation, but to visualize the geographic fabric of Finland in a unique, minimalist way. The final image is meant to be a beautiful art, a conversation starter that feels both modern and deeply connected to the country’s identity.
**2. The Process: “Geographic Tetris”**: I don’t “choose” the places. My own custom script processes a data and attempts to place each name at its exact coordinates, starting with the most populous. The key rule is: names cannot overlap. A large city in a dense area might be blocked by its neighbors, while a smaller, luckier town in a sparser region might find a spot.
**3. The Data: A Bilingual Snapshot:** The data comes from OpenStreetMaps, which means the map includes hundreds of municipalities, towns, and villages (489 actually on this map). A unique feature of the Finnish data is its bilingual nature. You’ll notice that while most names are in Finnish, localities in Swedish-speaking regions are shown in **Swedish**. The final result is an authentic snapshot of how the data sees Finland, with all its linguistic and historical layers.
Happy to answer any questions about the process!
Jolos is not a town, it’s a river
Very cool 🫦
No Espoo. Fits.
No Teuva or Ylöjärvi.
Kotikunta havaittu, torille!
Post it in r/mapporn to, this is really cool
South from Seinäjoki before Kurikka should be Ilmajoki not Torala.
Kullaa? Why would that be shown over Ulvila?
Mauru mentioned
Even smallest little village between big cities is there, how?
No Valkeakoski!
Naantali is missing. Considering the president resides there during the summers, I think it should be included. 👀
Quite curious that Marjaniemi was chosen over Hailuoto, being that Marjaniemi is part of the municipality of Hailuoto. That’s like having Manhattan instead of new York.
Ikaalinen is also missing from between Hämeenkyrö and Parkano
first time i see my hometown in this sub
I see a rabbit.
I want to score 1550+ in SAT in two months preparation
My hometown isn’t there 🙁 (Heinävesi)
It’s clear it’s created with AI and not made by a human at all, even your answers are made by AI. It’s riddled with strange random place names that are just tiny farms instead of actual towns or even villages. Like Kurböle, Myrkky, Murtoi, Suuru, Puras…… also the place names are randomly either in Swedish or Finnish.
Mäntsälä is not there either
No Eurajoki
Korso is missing. 😂/s
You know Ahvenanmaa is part of Finland? I know they think of themselves a bit Swedish, but the archipelago is Finnish.
Honestly I love this. I’m grabbing this purely because I can’t remember half the time where localities are.
![[OC] I created a typographic map of Finland using the names of its localities](https://www.europesays.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/0ht7j0wb4jqf1-1467x1024.jpeg)
27 comments
Hei everyone!
Thank you for checking out my personal geo-data-art project. I wanted to share a few notes on what you’re seeing, as it’s not a traditional map, but a piece of art designed to evoke emotion and show the country in a new light.
**1. Data Art, Not an Atlas**: Its goal isn’t navigation, but to visualize the geographic fabric of Finland in a unique, minimalist way. The final image is meant to be a beautiful art, a conversation starter that feels both modern and deeply connected to the country’s identity.
**2. The Process: “Geographic Tetris”**: I don’t “choose” the places. My own custom script processes a data and attempts to place each name at its exact coordinates, starting with the most populous. The key rule is: names cannot overlap. A large city in a dense area might be blocked by its neighbors, while a smaller, luckier town in a sparser region might find a spot.
**3. The Data: A Bilingual Snapshot:** The data comes from OpenStreetMaps, which means the map includes hundreds of municipalities, towns, and villages (489 actually on this map). A unique feature of the Finnish data is its bilingual nature. You’ll notice that while most names are in Finnish, localities in Swedish-speaking regions are shown in **Swedish**. The final result is an authentic snapshot of how the data sees Finland, with all its linguistic and historical layers.
Happy to answer any questions about the process!
Jolos is not a town, it’s a river
Very cool 🫦
No Espoo. Fits.
No Teuva or Ylöjärvi.
Kotikunta havaittu, torille!
Post it in r/mapporn to, this is really cool
South from Seinäjoki before Kurikka should be Ilmajoki not Torala.
Kullaa? Why would that be shown over Ulvila?
Mauru mentioned
Even smallest little village between big cities is there, how?
No Valkeakoski!
Naantali is missing. Considering the president resides there during the summers, I think it should be included. 👀
Quite curious that Marjaniemi was chosen over Hailuoto, being that Marjaniemi is part of the municipality of Hailuoto. That’s like having Manhattan instead of new York.
Ikaalinen is also missing from between Hämeenkyrö and Parkano
first time i see my hometown in this sub
I see a rabbit.
I want to score 1550+ in SAT in two months preparation
My hometown isn’t there 🙁 (Heinävesi)
It’s clear it’s created with AI and not made by a human at all, even your answers are made by AI. It’s riddled with strange random place names that are just tiny farms instead of actual towns or even villages. Like Kurböle, Myrkky, Murtoi, Suuru, Puras…… also the place names are randomly either in Swedish or Finnish.
Mäntsälä is not there either
No Eurajoki
Korso is missing. 😂/s
You know Ahvenanmaa is part of Finland? I know they think of themselves a bit Swedish, but the archipelago is Finnish.
Honestly I love this. I’m grabbing this purely because I can’t remember half the time where localities are.
No viipuri
Kannonkoski missing 😠
Comments are closed.