Browsing by master's degree program "Maantieteen maisteriohjelma"

High-quality address data is an essential part of a functioning society and its services. However, shortcomings have been identified in the quality of national address data that can, at worst, slow access to vital help in an emergency. Partly for this reason, National Land Survey of Finland (NLS) is developing a new national address information system (OTJ), which in the coming years will serve as the main database for Finland’s national address data. The OTJ's quality management methods are still under development. Currently, the incoming address data of the OTJ is planned to pass through a quality control service called Laatuvahti, which takes care of logical consistency of the incoming data by using quality rules. Preliminary quality rules of address data have been designed for the Laatuvahti service. However, the adequacy of the quality rules and the functionalities of Laatuvahti service to the quality management of address data has not yet been studied extensively. It has also not been clarified how well the quality management methods fit the needs of the users of the address data. In this master’s thesis the quality needs of significant address data users are discovered, the suitability of the OTJ's current quality management methods to the quality needs are examined, and it is determined how the quality management methods should be developed in the future. In addition, the quality needs are used in determining what does quality in address data mean. The address data users’ experiences on the quality of the address data were investigated through expert interviews. A total of seven interviews were conducted. The interviewees were selected to represent socially significant users of address data that use the data for different purposes. Interviewees were the Emergency Response Center Agency, the safety and rescue authorities, a navigation company, a telecommunications company, an energy company, a transport company and the Statistics Finland. The suitability of the OTJ's quality management methods was assessed by comparing the users’ quality needs with the existing address data quality rules and the functionalities and possibilities of Laatuvahti service. The suitability of Laatuvahti for quality needs was further verified by a service expert (from NLS). Most of the quality needs that the address data users raised in the interviews were related to thematic correctness of the address data (i.e. the correctness of the address name and number), positional accuracy and ensuring completeness and currency of the data. In addition, some of the needs were related to the address data structure, uniqueness and methods of reporting the quality level of address data. Based on the quality needs, the quality of address data can be defined simply to mean that the address data points and directs accurately to the intended location based on both its location information and the address name and number spelling. The results suggest that the OTJ's quality rules and the functionalities of Laatuvahti service only partially meets the needs of the users. The quality management methods are not suitable enough for managing the completeness and currency of the data. Some good efforts had been made to ensure thematic correctness through the quality rules, but the methods could be developed further. Positional accuracy was poorly ensured by the quality rules, but the methods could be developed to ensure the accuracy of location information better in relation to the user needs. In addition, the uniqueness of the address could also be ensured in a more versatile way. According to the results, new quality checks should be developed for the OTJ's quality management to ensure, among other things, the positional accuracy and the uniqueness of the address. In addition, recommendations for the structure and content of address names and numbers should be clarified and the quality of reference datasets used in the quality control should be ensured. In the future, it should also be clarified how the completeness and currency of address data can be monitored and should the quality results be reported in a feature level with some sort of a quality indicator value.

Retail location analysis has been a widely researched topic during the last decades, and models able to estimate consumer and purchasing power flows are valuable to retailers and investors. As the retail market is getting increasingly competitive and consumer habits are changing, the demand for sophisticated modeling techniques remains high. Spatial interaction models (SIMs) have been proven effective for simulating consumer behavior and estimating store revenues in a high degree of accuracy. This master’s thesis examines the suitability of spatial interaction models for simulating the grocery market in Helsinki metropolitan area (HMA). Three iteratively calibrated SIMs are developed, and generated revenue estimates are compared to each other and actual revenue figures of HMA grocery stores. Based on the modeling results, factors preventing more accurate results are identified and suggestions are given for future model development. The study focuses on year 2019, and main datasets used are Nielsen grocery store register and Statistics Finland’s Grid Database. Travel times between supply and demand zones of the model are based on Helsinki Travel Time Matrix 2018 by Digital Geography Lab. The developed models can forecast revenues of the 323 studied stores quite accurately, and in the best case over half of the revenues are forecasted within a 25% error margin. A high coefficient of determination is achieved even with a simple model, and the disaggregated versions further improve the results. The models estimate the revenues of large hypermarkets the best, while there is more variance in the estimates for smaller stores. The results indicate that a spatial interaction model suits well for modeling the grocery market in the study area. The lack of empirical consumer flow data did not prevent the calibration of the model, and passable results were achieved with the iterative calibration approach. However, the developed models remain theoretical due to the lack of empirical datas. This, in addition to other results of the study, underline the importance of empirical calibration data when developing robust modeling solutions. If suitable empirical data was available, combining it with highly granular demographic data such as Grid Database, might enable very accurate modeling of consumer flows. Models able to consider current changes in the grocery sector, such as e-commerce and the refurbishments, could be valuable to both scholars and commercial operators in the retail sector.

The signs of growing segregation between urban schools have shaken the perception of school equity in Helsinki during the last two decades and raised the question of whether school choices made by families are deepening the differences between schools. At the same time, recent observations have brought up concerns whether especially schools located geographically close to each other can be found segregated in Helsinki as well. The purpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of school choice mechanisms and to examine pupils’ school choices in a more limited small-scale area, rather than the whole city. In addition to this, the study seeks to highlight the importance of the local school markets, which has so far received relatively little attention in the Finnish debate. The study concentrates on pupils attending upper comprehensive schools in northern and north-eastern Helsinki, whose school choices have been studied using questionnaire data collected for the MetrOP-project (2010-2013). A total of 794 students who attended upper comprehensive school in northern or north-eastern Helsinki and lived in the area could be extracted from the MetrOP data. The school choices made by the pupils have been studied with statistical methods which made it possible to examine the directions of school choice flows in the research area. Moreover, the study concentrates to analyse whether school choices are guided by the socio-economic characteristics of school’s enrollment area. Socio-economic indicators have been examined using data from Statistics Finland's grid database. The results of the study showed upper comprehensive schools in northern and north-eastern Helsinki were divided into those that attracted students much more strongly and to those that were less popular in the local school market. In addition, identifiable school choice flows from one neighborhood to another could be found in the research area, confirming the assumption of greater attractiveness of some schools in respect to other ones in the vicinity. Socio-economic variables would often seem to explain the popularity of some schools, but the relative wellbeing or disadvantage of school’s enrollment area did not explain all school choices made in northern and north-eastern Helsinki. Therefore, it can be assumed that there is a more multifaceted set of factors influencing the local school markets and the choices made by local families.

This Master’s thesis examines a project implemented in the municipality of Parkano in northwestern Pirkanmaa in which a new school and cultural campus, Kaarna, was built. There are approximately 600 comprehensive school students and 100 high school students studying in Kaarna. The campus also serves as a center for sports, culture and leisure activities. The campus represents a multifunctional school design model, in which different functions and services are integrated into the school. Such “community center schools” have become more common in Europe in recent years and are gradually gaining popularity in Finland as well. Typically, the aim of multifunctional school is to provide comprehensive support to the local community and to meet the challenges of area’s regional development. While in urban areas the role of schools is considered important especially in preventing segregation, in rural areas the regional significance of schools is more attached to maintaining regional vitality. Despite the differences between urban and rural areas, the core idea is the same: to strengthen and expand the local roles of schools and to support the wellbeing of local communities through schools. This thesis examines the opinions of the educational actors of the municipality of Parkano on the role of their new school in local development. The study aims to understand how the actors responsible for organizing the municipality’s educational services see their possibilities and ability to plan and implement educational services using local circumstances and needs as a starting point. In addition, the study examines whether the educational actors see the local role of the school meaningful solely in the education of children and young people, or do they think that the school also plays a significant role in supporting the overall development of the municipality. The thesis aims to take part in the discussion on how schools can promote vibrant communities and residential areas in rural Finland, and on the other hand, what kind of challenges are involved. In this thesis, the phenomenon is approached through place-based development of schools and community development. The primary data of the study consists of seven expert interviews conducted using the thematic interview method. All three school principals, two municipal officers and two members of municipal council attended the interviews. The description of the case was produced using fact-finding method, and the interviewees’ own views were interpreted using thematic analysis. Alongside with the interview data, information from statistics and the municipality’s own official documents was used to help build the case description. The findings of the study show that in Parkano, the opportunities to implement place-based educational services are generally seen favorable. According to the study, taking local needs into account in the planning of educational services requires, among other things, strong social capital between local educational actors and active co-operation with various actors in the surrounding area. The school was seen to play an important role in promoting the wellbeing of the entire community. The school not only meets the educational needs of the surrounding community, but also plays a key role in the leisure activities of the residents, builds social capital between different actors, improves the image of the municipality and maintains the vitality of the area. A school that is responsive to the needs of its community can also produce positive development outside the school walls. Consequently, the vitality and the resilience of the surrounding community reflects back to school. On the other hand, the study also showed that place-based development of schools will not solve the challenges of regional inequality arising from the wider societal development processes. For example, the positive effects of the school on population development of the area were seen limited.

The stability of local organism communities is affected by multiple variables from historical dispersal factors of broad spatiotemporal scale to more local variables of ecosystem trophic level and disturbance variables. Streams are a very a unique living environment in this regard, as their hydrological circumstances and nutrient balance vary substantially throughout the year, disturbances reflect from upstream locations to downstream relatively fast and the dispersal created by current causes microorganism communities to resemble one another along upstream-downstream gradient. As such, stream habitats are temporally remarkably variable by their environmental conditions and on the other hand subject to continuous one-way migration from upstream sites. The population dynamics of stream micro-organisms differs greatly from lentic systems as a result. In this thesis the temporal stability of six Southern Finnish diatom communities was studied during the summer 2017. A clear gradient from urban to natural environments, characterized by their catchment’s land use variables was sought after in the initial study setting. The aim of the study was to recognize the most important variables affecting the stability of diatom communities as well as to study how the stability of communities differed between varying habitats characterized by their pwater quality and physical environment. In addition, the stability and performance of diatom indices IPS and TDI was studied. The sampling period of the study was conducted between 17th of May 2017 and 18th of October 2017, covering the majority of Southern Finnish growing period. In total eight samples were collected per site, primarily following the temporal cycle of 21 days. In addition to diatom samples the physicochemical water quality and physical environmental variables were studied from the sampling locations. These were used to recognize the central environmental variables affecting the changes observed in diatom communities. Linear regression analysis and a variety of multivariable analyses, such as non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS), canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) were utilized as statistical methods. The results indicated that the sampling sites differed significantly by their physicochemical water quality as well as their diatom communities. The diversity and structure of diatom communities was affected most strongly by variables representing the overall environmental stress and disturbance level, trophic level and local hydrology. The local species count was most strongly correlated with electrical conductivity, total phosphorus concentration and time elapsed since the onset of sampling period. The stability of diatom communities was mainly affected by environmental variables representing anthropogenic activity and trophic level of the ecosystem. The communities were generally most temporally stable in urban sampling locations, although they were temporally more variable than their natural habitat counterparts over short observation time span. The values of both studied diatom indices differed significantly between sampling locations. According to the results the IPS-index failed to reflect differences in physicochemical water quality. By contrast, the TDI-index was temporally relatively stable and also correlated better with physicochemical water quality variables. The results were mostly in accordance with the most crucial reference frame of the study field as well as the results of previous studies. As such, they can be seen to further reinforce the view that diatom communities are most species diverse in high trophic level and low environmental stress habitats. The temporal stability of the communities followed the same principles with the most stable communities being present in high environmental stress, low trophic level habitats.

Methane is an important greenhouse gas in the global atmosphere and its concentration has more than doubled compared to preindustrial times. Fresh water lakes and streams are substantial sources of methane. However, the estimations of their role in the global methane budget vary significantly and not until the 21st century has the understanding of their role as substantial methane sources increased. In the boreal zone, lakes produce as much as 30 % of the methane emissions. In this study, we examine spatial and temporal changes in methane fluxes from northern boreal lake Pallasjärvi and from a small stream located in its catchment area between June and November of 2020. We also examine the factors that explain the spatial and temporal changes in the methane fluxes, both lake and stream. Lake and stream methane fluxes were measured every other week between June and August, once a week in September, and once in the beginning of November using the chamber method. During the chamber measurements we also measured water surface temperature. Furthermore, at the stream sites we measured the water flow rate. At the lake measurement points we measured the water depth in November, which we calibrated to apply to the entire measurement period using water pressure logger. In March 2021, we measured the depth of the sediment layer at the lake sites. We also used CORINE-landcover data to model stream methane fluxes and for the lake, we used Finnish Meteorological Institute’s wind speed and direction dataset. We used these variables in order to explain the spatial and temporal variation of the lake and the stream methane fluxes using correlation analysis and linear mixed models. In this study, we find that water surface temperature, water depth, and wind were significant variables in explaining the lake methane fluxes. Respectively, landcover and surface water temperature explained the stream methane flux. From a temporal perspective, the strongest fluxes were measured between June and July at the lake sites and August and the beginning of September at the stream sites. Methane fluxes were divided spatially in two different groups at both lake and stream sites. At the lake sites, the strongest fluxes were measured in the shallow Pallaslompolo area and the weakest at the larger and deeper main basin of the lake. At the stream sites, the fluxes were also divided in two groups, the upstream’s weak fluxes and the downstream’s strong fluxes. According to the results, the temporal change of flux in the lake area is controlled by the changes in the factors underlying the methane production, and the differences in the lake basin depth control the spatial change of flux. The temporal change of stream methane flux depends on the changes in the methane production in the stream and its catchment area, while the spatial change depends on the changes in the landcover along the stream. However, more research and data are needed about the lake sediment layer temperature and oxygen levels, the water methane concentration, and stream catchments with different landcovers, which all impact the methane fluxes.

This master’s thesis attempts to examine views on Finland’s security environment among Finnish security experts and analyse these views through the framework of critical geopolitics. Theoretically, the thesis draws both from earlier literature on perceived state security threats to Finland and the research on security-geopolitics relationship within critical geopolitics. The thesis utilizes Q methodology, a relatively little-known approach with a long history and an active userbase in social sciences. The purpose of the methodology is to study personal viewpoints, in other words, subjectivities, among a selected group of people, the participants of the study. Q methodology employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, and the result of a Q methodological research is a number of discourses, which can be further analysed. The group of participants whose views were examined consisted of nine geopolitical experts and policymakers, all of whom were civil servants of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Finnish Defence Forces. Three separate discourse were distinguished in this group, on top of which there was a consensus in some issues examined. One of the resulting discourses, which was especially widespread among participants from the Defence Forces, viewed Russia as Finland’s geopolitical Other. According to this discourse, Finland’s security would be highly dependent on this Other, even though it may not be a realistic security threat at the moment. This view is in line with a traditional geopolitical discourse in Finland. Another discourse, which was common among the participants from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized internal security threats and democracy’s role for security, while it seemingly downplayed Russia’s role. A third discourse, on the other hand, highlighted non-state security issues, such as terrorism. The consensus discourse among the group of participants viewed the European Union strongly as the primary geopolitical framework of Finland. Even though two of the three individual discourses did not highlight Russia’s role, there was an indirectly implied consensus that Finland should not seek close cooperation with Russia in important security matters, such as cybersecurity

Deforestation is an ongoing issue worldwide, and the loss of forests, coupled with climate change, is causing significant changes in global biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Currently, forests cover approximately 13% of the land area in the United Kingdom, making it one of the least forested countries in Europe. Reforestation efforts aim to increase forest area, ensuring the provision of ecosystem services, biodiversity, carbon storage, and species conservation. The goal in United Kingdom is to increase forest cover from 13% to 17% nationwide by 2050. However, research focusing on the impacts of climate change largely relies on large-scale climates over areas greater than 1 km². Broad-scale climates also called macroclimates affect large areas on a long-term and are spatially very broad scale. Many species, however, experience significantly different temperatures and weather conditions from macroclimates. These microrefugias created by microclimates can provide habitats for species requiring cooler conditions in changing climates. Microclimates have a lot of impact for forest ecology, as they enhance carbon sequestration, microbial activity, and decomposition processes in forests. Many different factors influence the formation of microclimates, such as solar radiation, air temperature, precipitation, soil temperature, humidity, and wind. Vegetation affects radiation and wind near the ground, creating the characteristic microclimate of each area. Buffering refers to the ability of forests to absorb or resist changes in temperature, thereby maintaining more stable temperature conditions compared to temperatures outside the forest. This study aims to find answers on the questions 1. How well can forests buffer macroclimate temperatures and create microclimates? 2.What kind of forest structures create microclimates that differ from the macroclimate? 3.Which types of forests planted in Scotland best support the creation of microrefugia? For this study, microclimate measurements and remote sensing data (TLS) were collected from 21 forest sites in England and Scotland. Macroclimate temperatures were determined using ERA5-Land data and nearby weather stations temperature data. By using linear models and statistical analyses, slope values were made for each forest plot to represent buffering. The results indicate what types of forests enhance temperature buffering and create microclimate conditions. The results indicate that broadleaf and coniferous forests effectively buffer temperatures during the leaf-on period, while their effectiveness diminishes during the leaf-off period. Broadleaf forests showed buffering during the leaf-on period but showed reduced buffering during the leaf-off period. Coniferous forests maintained better buffering during the leaf-on period and low buffering during the leaf-off period. Monoculture forests provided consistent buffering, while older and multi-age forests performed best in both periods, demonstrating the importance of structural complexity and diversity. Certain species, such as spruce, Scots pine, and oak, showed strong buffering capabilities year-round. The linear mixed-effects model confirmed that forest structural traits such as, Foliage Height Diversity and Relative Height and other factors such as hillslope, elevation, and tree type significantly influence temperature buffering. Maintaining diverse and structurally complex forests with a mix of species like spruce, Scots pine, and oak is essential for optimizing temperature buffering and creating stable microclimates and microrefugia. These forests can better withstand temperature fluctuations and provide habitats for species affected by climate change. The study highlights the importance of long-term forest growth and diverse understories in enhancing forest resilience and ecological stability. Further research is needed to understand the broader implications of forest management practices on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Further research is also needed in the planning of reforestation in Scotland to understand where reforestation can be most effectively implemented.

Understanding local people’s perceptions towards tourism is important to minimize the negative impacts of tourism and to promote sustainable tourism. This thesis researches residents’ perceptions towards tourism, tourism development and tourism impacts in the city of Pokhara in Nepal. The thesis utilises Doxey’s irritation index and social exchange theory as the theoretical framework of the research. Based on Doxey’s irritation index, local people’s attitudes towards tourism shift from positive to negative as the time goes by and tourism develops. Based on the social exchange theory used in tourism studies, local people’s perceptions towards tourism are more positive the more the locals benefit from tourism and interact with tourists and tourism. This thesis aims to also understand what kind of place image local people have of Pokhara and how residents’ place image is connected to the perceptions they have towards tourism in Pokhara. As earlier tourism research has suggested, local people’s place image and perceptions towards tourism are connected and the more positive place image locals have, the more positive their perceptions towards tourism are. This thesis research is based on qualitative methods. The research data was collected with a qualitative questionnaire distributed online for the residents of Pokhara. Open-ended questions were used in the questionnaire, so that the participants could express their place image and perceptions towards tourism with their own words. The data was analysed by using qualitative content analysis. The results of this research indicate that the majority of the participants is satisfied with the tourism situation in Pokhara. The participants are especially content that tourism creates employment and earning opportunities for local people in Pokhara. However, a few participants expressed some irritation towards tourism situation in Pokhara due to different reasons. Despite some of the more negative perceptions towards tourism, almost all of the participants supported future tourism development in the area. Similarly, almost all of the participants thought that positive tourism impacts in the area are greater than the negative impacts, even though the participants also identified several negative tourism impacts, mainly regarding the environmental degradation and westernisation of local culture, habits, and values. On the contrary to the suggestions of the Doxey’s index, locals’ attitudes towards tourism have remained mostly positive even though tourism has developed in Pokhara in the past decades. Also, the results regarding local people’s involvement with tourism and tourists compared to their perceptions towards tourism are not completely in line with the earlier tourism research using the social exchange theory. The results of this research indicate that participants’ perceptions towards tourism are not always more positive the more residents benefit from tourism and interact with tourism or tourists. On the contrary, the perceptions towards tourism might be even more often negative among the participants who have contact with tourism and tourists than those who have not. The results also indicate that the participants have mostly a positive place image of Pokhara. Even though approximately half of the participants had both positive place image and positive perceptions towards tourism, positive place image will not always automatically result in positive perceptions towards tourism among the local people.

Achieving goals set for sustainable development and a prosperous life for future generations requires a collective effort, including from people on a private level, national governments, and private organizations alike. Sustainable development is often divided into three pillars, the environmental, economic and social pillars. One sector at the center of this is the agri-food sector, where social sustainability appears to be receiving little attention along its value chains. Oats, a staple product for Finland and Sweden, are considered a sustainable product from environmental and health perspectives, as well as potentially from an economic standpoint, but again social sustainability in the oats value chains is missing from the discussion. This thesis sets out to assess to which extent the social dimension of sustainability is addressed in these oats value chains. Using a mixed methods approach, the thesis explores the different measures used for assessing aspects of social sustainability. Measuring progress in sustainable development is often done through the use of indicators, which many of them are derived from the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Indicators are meant to reveal areas where progress has not been made and policy should be targeted for development. Large organizations are reporting their contributions in annually published sustainability reports. For this, sustainability aspects need to be measurable, which requires converting real-life phenomena into measurable indicators, often quantifiable numbers. This is especially difficult for some social aspects. There is a risk policymaking loses its focus of pursuing development beyond the indicators, but instead is only trying to answer to the indicators. The thesis is applying a qualitative mixed methods approach. First, published sustainability reports are assessed, followed by indepth, semi-structured expert interviews. The research material consists of two published sustainability reports, an unpublished sustainability report comparison document, as well as 11 interviews. The data was gathered in March, April and May 2022. The interviews were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis and divided into themes for analysis. From an objective general standpoint, the oats value chain stakeholders valued all three dimensions of sustainability equally, but through the use of examples of activities the same did not translate into the organizations’ daily activities. Actions and programs were more focused on environmental and economic aspects, and the absence of social sustainability examples in initial responses proposes a slight disregard toward the social dimension. Still, organizations introduced a variety of methods in place for assessing social issues, especially internally. Organizations in the oats value chain are looking to make an impact for a more sustainable future, but measuring performance presents challenges, especially on the social side. Categorizing aspects of social sustainability under different dimensions of sustainability is complicated.