Use of hydrographic data and licenses

Nautical chart products for navigation

To ensure safe navigation, up-to-date nautical chart datasets suitable for this purpose must be used in products and services intended for navigation.

S-57 vector data intended for navigation is licensed and distributed through Traficom's partner Primar. Licensed data can be downloaded from Primar's service. For more information on data availability, pricing, licensing and terms of use, contact Primar.

PRIMAR_S57_Non_SOLAS@kartverket.no

Use for navigation refers to navigational activities such as:

• planning a vessel's route
• determining a vessel's position
• determining a suitable course

Nautical chart products for testing

You can obtain S-57, S-101 and S-102 nautical chart products free of charge for testing purposes, for example, to support application development, system testing and product development.

Nautical chart products provided for testing are not intended for navigation or commercial use. The terms of use are specified in the data licence agreement.

For more information on using the data for testing, contact:

copyright@traficom.fi

• Learn about the new S-100 navigation products

Nautical chart data

The primary distribution channel for nautical chart data is Traficom's download and viewing service. Through this service, most of the data can be downloaded free of charge under an open data license. 

Nautical chart data available through Traficom's interface and download services does not meet the requirements for official nautical charts and is not intended for navigation. The data can be freely used, for example, for geospatial analyses and as background map data.

Use of nautical chart data in publications

All nautical chart data produced by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom is protected by copyright law. A publication permit is required, for example, if you want to publish an extract from a nautical chart or other hydrographic information on a website. A permit is also required if you want to use nautical chart data in books, brochures or advertising materials.

The price is determined based on the intended use and factors such as the format of the data, the print run of the publication and other factors affecting its use.

Bathymetric data

The Territorial Surveillance Act restricts the systematic surveying and recording of seabed formations in Finland's territorial waters. Under the Act on the Openness of Government Activities, hydrographic survey data may be classified as confidential.

The right to use hydrographic survey data must always be applied for through Traficom's My e-Services. The terms of use are specified in the data disclosure agreement.

• More information about bathymetric data