River network is based on the topographic database of the National Land Survey of Finland in scale of 1:5 000-1:10 000 from years 2000-2008.
The continuous network has been created in Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) by combining rivers to the central lines through polygon rivers and lakes. The dataset includes also unique river codes and lake codes.
The river network includes all river segments with catchment areas larger than 10 km². Other, smaller rivers with smaller catchment areas are also included in case they are considered significant for water management tasks (e.g. WFD). The change from one river segment to another, with unique river code and information, is located at the junction of the river network. The river code also changes at a connection point of a river segment and a lake. The river network has been created such a way that all parts of the network are linked topologically to each other and have a correct flow direction so that the dataset can be used for analyzing the network.
River network is dataset owned by SYKE and has same copyright and ownership conditions as other similar datasets owned by SYKE. SYKE applies Creative Commons By 4.0 International license for open datasets.
River network is developed to serve a wide variety of tasks related to water management, scientific research, water conservation and national and international reporting as well as associated information management.