Santtu Pyykkönen

The Domino Effect of School Closures: A Geospatial Look at Service Network Decisions

Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Municipal service network decisions are rarely just technical. On paper, closing one school may look like a small efficiency measure. On the ground, it changes daily life for a specific group of children and families. I wanted to look at that tradeoff in a concrete way, so I ran a simple simulation using Finnish population and school data. The question was straightforward: if a municipality had to remove two schools from the network, which ones would cause the least disruption, and what would that disruption actually look like?

Mapping Unemployment: Spatial Patterns and Clusters in Jakobstad with Finland's Fine-Grained Statistical Data

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

National or municipal unemployment figures are useful, but they flatten space. Once you look at unemployment on a 250-meter grid, the picture gets more interesting. In this post I used a sample dataset from Jakobstad (Pietarsaari), based on 2017 data. The case itself is small, but the method scales well. The same approach can be applied much more broadly with Statistics Finland’s regularly updated grid dataset. Jakobstad works well as a case area because it is small enough to inspect closely, but still large enough to show meaningful variation inside the city.

Spatial Patterns of Infant Poverty in Mexico: A Case Study of Tijuana

Mon, 15 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

Mexico’s inequality is not only social or economic. It is also spatial. In many cities, different forms of vulnerability are clearly concentrated in different parts of the urban fabric.

Using Census and Electoral Data for More Precise Campaign Targeting

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A practical look at what section-level electoral analysis can reveal for campaign work Campaigns are always short on time, money, and attention. The geographic question is simple: where should we actually focus? In many campaigns, the answer is still too broad. Resources get spread across municipalities, districts, or entire cities based on rough assumptions. But elections are usually decided in much smaller places than that. That is where GIS becomes useful.

PostgreSQL, GeoServer and QGIS in a Nature Data Workflow for Tampere

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Archived Article I wrote this article for the Gispo blog about a Tampere workflow where PostgreSQL, GeoServer, and QGIS were used to make environmental data collection more manageable and secure. → Read the original article on the Gispo blog Why I’m Keeping It Here It is a good example of the kind of operational GIS work I value most. The interesting part was not the stack itself, but how the pieces were made usable for real data collection.

PostGIS and QGIS Enterprise Solutions for Modern Geospatial Workflows

Wed, 28 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Conference Participation I participated in FOSS4G 2023 in Prizren, Kosovo, with both a workshop and a presentation focused on PostGIS and QGIS in larger operational environments. Presentation: PostGIS and QGIS Enterprise Usage My presentation explored advanced implementations of PostGIS and QGIS in enterprise environments, demonstrating how organizations can leverage these powerful open source tools to build robust, scalable geospatial solutions. Key Topics Covered: PostGIS Advanced Features: Spatial indexing, complex queries, and performance optimization for enterprise workloads QGIS Enterprise Deployment: Server configurations, plugin management, and multi-user environments Integration Strategies: Connecting PostGIS backends with QGIS frontends for seamless workflows Performance Optimization: Best practices for handling large datasets and concurrent users Case Studies: Real-world implementations and lessons learned from enterprise deployments Workshop: Hands-on Enterprise Implementation The workshop provided participants with practical experience in setting up and configuring PostGIS and QGIS for enterprise scenarios, covering:

Data for urban mobility planning

Sun, 05 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Clean growth, climate action, and basic urban functionality all push cities to think about mobility in a more data-driven way.

Public investment in León (Mx.)

Thu, 05 Sep 2019 18:25:22 +0530

When it comes to budgets, there’s always interest for analyzing and visualizing the data.

School accessibility in Finland

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 19:41:01 +0530

School accessibility is a theme of great importance and requires advanced geospatial analysis for solving it as a complex societal challenge.

Cloud-Native Geospatial Technologies and Enterprise Solutions

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Conference Participation I participated in FOSS4G North America 2023 in Baltimore with a talk on cloud-native geospatial technologies and operational workflows. Conference Focus The conference had a strong focus on where open source geospatial tooling is heading, especially around cloud-native approaches. Key Conference Themes: Cloud-Native Geospatial Technologies: Exploring the shift toward cloud-based geospatial solutions Enterprise Adoption: Growing acceptance of open source solutions in enterprise environments Community Evolution: The changing dynamics of the global FOSS4G community Technology Innovation: Latest developments in open source geospatial software Presentation: Enterprise Cloud Solutions My presentation explored the intersection of cloud-native technologies and enterprise geospatial workflows, demonstrating how organizations can leverage modern open source tools to build scalable, cloud-ready solutions.

On the Rising Importance of SQL for Geospatial Data Experts

Wed, 26 Oct 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Archived Article I wrote this article for the Gispo blog about why SQL keeps becoming more important in GIS once the data grows, the workflows harden, or the work moves closer to operations. → Read the original article on the Gispo blog Why I’m Keeping It Here It captures a shift that still matters for GIS work today. SQL is one of the clearest bridges between desktop GIS and larger data systems.

Empowering European Commission with GIS Capabilities Through QGIS Training

Tue, 15 Mar 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Archived Article I wrote this article for the Gispo blog about QGIS training work for European institutions, and why practical GIS skills matter when the users are dealing with real policy questions. → Read the original article on the Gispo blog Why I’m Keeping It Here It reflects a part of my work that is less about tools and more about helping people use them well. Training work usually reveals very quickly what is actually useful and what is not.

Accessibility to hospitals

Mon, 05 Aug 2019 19:53:42 +0530

Matching the populational demand and service offering in the health sector is an analytical challenge that every society and health provider face.

How to Handle Point Clouds in QGIS 3.18

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Archived Article I wrote this article for the Gispo blog when QGIS 3.18 added native point cloud support, which felt like an important step for everyday open source GIS work. → Read the original article on the Gispo blog Why I’m Keeping It Here It marks a clear moment in how QGIS started handling point clouds more seriously. It still gives useful context for people coming from older QGIS workflows.

United Nations Calls for Open Source

Sat, 10 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Archived Article I wrote this article for the Gispo blog about the UN’s support for open source and why that kind of signal matters for policy, procurement, and long-term capacity building. → Read the original article on the Gispo blog Why I’m Keeping It Here It is a small policy piece, but the topic still connects well with how I think about open source. Institutional support matters when open source moves from niche use into normal practice.

Driving Insights from Point Cloud Data with WhiteboxTools and QGIS

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Archived Article I wrote this article for the Gispo blog about combining WhiteboxTools with QGIS when the built-in tools are not quite enough for terrain or point cloud analysis. → Read the original article on the Gispo blog Why I’m Keeping It Here It shows the kind of tool-combining workflow I tend to like in practice. WhiteboxTools is still useful when you want a bit more analytical range inside a QGIS workflow.

Learn Spatial SQL and Master GeoPackage with QGIS 3

Tue, 15 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Archived Article I wrote this article for the Gispo blog about using GeoPackage as a simple way to learn spatial SQL inside QGIS before moving to heavier database setups. → Read the original article on the Gispo blog Why I’m Keeping It Here I still think this is one of the most practical ways to start learning spatial SQL. It connects desktop GIS habits with database thinking in a fairly low-friction way.

Automating GIS Processes with Graphical Modeler in QGIS

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Archived Article I wrote this article for the Gispo blog about using QGIS Graphical Modeler to make repetitive GIS work easier without jumping straight into Python. → Read the original article on the Gispo blog Why I’m Keeping It Here It captures a practical way I think about automation: simplify the workflow first. Graphical Modeler is still a good entry point before moving into scripting.

Strategic GIS Consulting

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I use GIS when the real question is strategic: where to focus, what to prioritize, and how geography changes the decision.

Enterprise GIS System Integration

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This is the more technical side of my work: connecting GIS tools, databases, and data flows so they are actually usable in day-to-day work.

Mapping Flood Extent in Mexico With Sentinel-1

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The flooding in parts of Mexico in October 2025 was a reminder of how quickly a large area can become difficult to assess from the ground. In situations like that, satellite data is useful because it gives at least a first estimate of where the water actually spread. The blue areas represent the regions/zones that were flooded. This map is from the Tabasco region. In this post I used Sentinel-1 SAR data in Google Earth Engine to estimate flood extent in a few affected areas.

Using GIS to Evaluate Bank Branch Coverage in Tijuana

Sat, 18 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Physical branch networks are expensive, and they are still important even as more banking moves online. That makes branch location a practical business question, not just a mapping exercise. I put together this example using Tijuana to show how GIS can help structure that question better. The goal was not to build a perfect banking model. It was to see where branch coverage already works, where the network overlaps too much, and where higher-potential areas still sit outside convenient access.