LIPAS (Liikuntapaikat.fi) is Finland's national database of sports and recreational facilities. The system provides comprehensive, up-to-date geographic information about sports venues, outdoor recreation areas, and related infrastructure across Finland.
LIPAS data is freely available to everyone. The database contains:
- 48,000+ sports facilities
- Location data with precise coordinates
- Facility details — types, properties, infrastructure
- Administrative data — ownership, operators, contact information
- Recreational routes and areas — trails, tracks, skiing routes, outdoor recreation areas
All data is available through multiple access methods with no registration required.
LIPAS data is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International). You are free to use, copy, distribute, and modify the data for any purpose, including commercial use, provided you give appropriate attribution:
Sports facilities: Lipas.fi, University of Jyväskylä, [sampling date]
Programmatic access to all LIPAS data.
| Version | Base URL | Documentation |
|---|---|---|
| V1 API | api.lipas.fi/v1/ |
api-v1.md |
| V2 API | api.lipas.fi/v2/ |
api-v2.md |
# Example: Get all swimming halls in Helsinki
curl "https://api.lipas.fi/v2/sports-sites?type-codes=3110&city-codes=91"Standard OGC web services for GIS applications.
- WFS: Vector data for analysis and integration
- WMS: Map tiles for visualization
Available at lipas.cc.jyu.fi/geoserver
Interactive map interface at lipas.fi for browsing, searching, and generating reports. Registered users can manage facility data and access analysis tools.
LIPAS is built as a modern web application with spatial data capabilities:
- Backend: Clojure
- Frontend: ClojureScript (Re-frame)
- Database: PostgreSQL with PostGIS
- Search: Elasticsearch
- Spatial Services: GeoServer, Mapproxy
The entire system is open source under the MIT license.
LIPAS integrates with Finnish national infrastructure:
- PTV (Palvelutietovaranto) — Service registry synchronization
- YTI (Yhteentoimivuusalusta) — Terminology services
LIPAS data powers dozens of services across Finland, including Luontoon.fi, Trailmap.fi, Retkikartta.fi, and various municipal map services like palvelukartta.hel.fi and kuopio.fi.
See DEV-README.md for development environment setup.
Additional documentation:
- docs/ — API documentation and operations
- webapp/docs/ — Technical architecture and guides
- webapp/CLAUDE.md — LLM development context
Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue to discuss proposed changes before submitting a pull request.
LIPAS is developed and maintained by the University of Jyväskylä, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences.
- Website: jyu.fi/lipas
- Issues: GitHub Issues
Source code: MIT License
Data: CC BY 4.0 — Attribution required