Just a quick note, in case someone is planning on coming to Finland, North Europe for hiking:

The Finnish forest ministry has free'd all excursion maps and topos from cover charges. You can build your own maps, and print them out here:

http://www.retkikartta.fi/retkikartta.php?lang=en

The maps include all official trails, wilderness huts, fireplaces, and a body of other information as well. You can choose which items/layers you wish to include in your map.

However, if you are planning a longer hike, either I suggest you print at a high quality copy store, or otherwise make sure your printed copies don't get wet!

Dubzion wrote:Just a quick note, in case someone is planning on coming to Finland, North Europe for hiking:

Are you concerned that some of us self-centered Americans might have thought that Finland was in southern Europe, or possibly somewhere North of Canada?

This is great news, hopefully other european countries will follow over the next couple years. I'd love to expand my caltopo.com map layer to europe, but for all your socialist leanings, most governments have decided that maps aren't something which should be freely owned by the people.

I try not to assume anyone actually knowing where Finland is. If I somehow managed to annoy someone, please accept my apologies.

And yes, I would really like to see more countries do the same as well. And I think this will happen in most countries, but it will take time.

Dubzion wrote:If I somehow managed to annoy someone, please accept my apologies.

No, it's all in good humor.

The way I see it, giving away free map data will enable local companies to create better products. Maybe it is a printed out map of the immediate surroundings of a local nature resort, or a fancy iPhone hiker app.

Anyway, I think in the end this will result in more people being able to enjoy the maps at a lower cost, and due to increase in volume, I would hope that taxes from those products will compensate any costs associated with keeping up the data.

Also: less people out there with crappy, out-of-date maps!