The streets will be recorded in August and September with Cyclomedia Technologies Oy’s vehicles equipped with recording systems. The vehicles are also marked with City of Helsinki identifiers. The vehicles carry on their roofs recording equipment that provides 360-degree panoramic photographic material as well as three-dimensional point cloud data that simulates the urban space.
The City of Helsinki has ordered the street view recordings in order to, for example, collect data of traffic signs and support the planning and maintenance of the transport system and street structures. The production of visual material is also resource-efficient and climate-friendly, as studying the material can replace extra field visits in relation to the city’s various tasks.
The materials achieved by recording the street view are not public; they are handled and stored confidentially and in accordance with data security requirements. Any human faces and vehicle number plates that are captured in the footage are automatically blurred. Technical information from the material is only saved to be used by the authorities, which means that it is saved in the city’s own systems, and traffic sign information is stored in Digiroad, the national street and road network database of the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency.
Good weather ideal for street view recording
The aim is to record the street view in conditions where there is as little traffic as possible but plenty of light. The total duration of the shooting depends on the number of vehicles with recording systems and the weather conditions. No footage can be shot if there is rain or thick fog. The aim is to complete the recording of all parts of Helsinki by September, but if the weather is good, the recording will only take a few weeks.