People & contact

Professor of Geoinformatics, PhD

Tuuli is a professor of geoinformatics and leads the multidisciplinary Digital Geography Lab at the Department of Geosciences and Geography. Her research explores the possibilities of using novel (big/open) data sources and spatial analyses to support environmental and sustainable land use planning and decision-making. Tuuli has studied both urban systems and more natural environments on various scales from the global to the local. Together with the team, she has developed and applied a wide range of methods for analysing spatial patterns and processes related to accessibility and mobility, as well as biodiversity conservation, utilising data from social media and mobile phone data in addition to more traditional data sources. Her research benefits from methods from a variety of fields and often involves interdisciplinary collaboration.

Tuuli has taught geoinformatics at the university level for more than 20 years and participates actively in the societal processes in the field. She is a great fan of open data and open science and interested in the implications of openness for education, research and society.

tuuli.toivonen[at]helsinki.fi

Academy Research Fellow, PhD

Olle holds a joint PhD in human geography and regional planning (2013) from the University of Tartu and Ghent University. As a human geographer, his broad interdisciplinary research interests focus on human mobilities in spatial, temporal and social contexts. He is particularly interested in how big data such as mobile phone and social media data can be used to examine individual spatial mobilities and behaviour, understand social processes and phenomena, and how this can be implemented in planning and policy. In recent years, he has examined ways to use big data in studying cross-border interactions, transnationalism, segregation and socio-spatial inequality, urban accessibility and regional mobility. Olle is currently working on his Academy Research Fellow project "" and two new Horizon Europe projects and WinWin4WorkLife.

olle.jarv[at]helsinki.fi

Associate Professor in Geography (tenure track), PhD

Johanna is an Associate Professor at the Department of Geosciences and Geography and is broadly interested in questions related to evaluating the effectiveness of conservation actions. Currently she is working on projects attempting to disentangle the many links between funding, governance and ecological outcomes of protected areas (see ). She is also interested in developing new tools and methods for the evaluation of protected area effectiveness.

Johanna´s background is very interdisciplinary. She did her PhD with the at the Metapopulation Research Centre, University of Helsinki, and has since worked as a postdoctoral researcher at and (University of Helsinki) and a visiting researcher at the University of Cambridge. She has experience of working with both protected area managers and local communities on the ground (Tanzania, Madagascar) and with a diverse set of methods (both quantitative and qualitative).

johanna.f.eklund[at]helsinki.fi

Professor of English Language and Digital Humanities, PhD

Tuomo holds a PhD in English Philology (2014) from the University of Helsinki. His research focuses on multimodality, that is, how human communication relies on intentional combinations of multiple ‘modes’ of expression. He has published two monographs on multimodality, entitled The Structure of Multimodal Documents (Routledge, 2015) and Multimodality: Foundations, Research and Analysis (De Gruyter, 2017, with John A. Bateman and Janina Wildfeuer). Tuomo is also interested in urban multilingualism and linguistic landscapes, which he has studied using social media and register data at the Digital Geography Lab. He has also developed computational approaches to analysing social media data using natural language processing, computer vision and machine learning.

Before joining the Digital Geography Lab in 2017 on a personal grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Tuomo worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Applied Language Studies at the University of Jyväskylä. Since 2018, Tuomo worked as an Associate Professor in English Language and Digital Humanities at the Department of Languages. Tuomo received full professorship in 2024 and, alongside his work with DGL, heads the at the University of Helsinki.

tuomo.hiippala[at]helsinki.fi

University Lecturer, PhD

Kamyar holds a PhD in Spatial planning and transportation engineering (2019) from Aalto University. He has a background in geoinformation technology (MSc, 2014) and geomatics (BSc, 2012) and is specialized in geospatial problem solving, modelling, and tool development. Kamyar’s broad interdisciplinary research interests focus on the use of quantitative methods to study person-environment relationships in urban context. This includes research on environmental health promotion, participatory mapping, activity spaces, mobility, and place exposure. In recent years, he has also explored the topics of open data and spatial data privacy and has examined novel methods of spatial data anonymization.

Kamyar is a university lecturer and teaches several courses in geoinformatics.

kamyar.hasanzadeh[at]helsinki.fi

University Lecturer, PhD

Petteri is a university lecturer in geoinformatics and an adjunct professor (title of docent) in biogeography. He is also the director of the . In addition to research, Petteri has also a teaching qualification as a subject teacher of geography and biology. Due to his background as a teacher, he has recently expanded his research topics to also cover the pedagogy of geography and educational sciences. In addition, Petteri is a member of the . 

Petteri supervises PhD theses, MSc theses and BSc theses in the fields of geoinformatics and the pedagogy of geography. He also teaches geoinformatics and GIS in various master’s and bachelor’s level courses.

petteri.muukkonen[at]helsinki.fi

Postdoctoral Researcher, PhD

Aina Brias-Guinart is interested in the social dimensions of conservation interventions, people-nature relationships, environmental education and nature-based tourism. At the Digital Geography Lab, she is part of the  project focusing on the engagement with protected area managers in Finland and Canary Islands. Aina holds a PhD (2023) from the University of Helsinki, with a thesis focused on the links between . She has experience with conservation practitioners and local communities on the ground (Senegal, Madagascar) with a diverse sets of qualitative methods. She is particularly interested in supporting effective and socially-just conservation models by using participatory research approaches and promoting ethical research practices in concrete and meaningful ways.

aina.briasguinart[at]helsinki.fi

Postdoctoral Researcher, PhD

Elias is a Postdoctoral researcher focused on interlinkages of urban sustainability, land use and transport. He studies spatial accessibility and mobility, urban travel environments and ways in which GISience and spatial (big) data can be harnessed to understand and advance social and environmental sustainability of everyday travel.

Currently, Elias currently works as a vice leader for the project. Elias holds a PhD in Geoinformatics with his thesis focused on , He has previously contributed to several research projects in DGL including , ) and . He was the head of the conference secretariat for the international  held in Helsinki in June 2019. Elias is also active in teaching: he has created two GIS courses also assists on several other courses.

elias.willberg[at]helsinki.fi

Research Coordinator, PhD

Kerli is a human geographer whose interdisciplinary research focuses on urban segregation, integration and transnationalism, and on socio-spatial inequalities in environmental exposures. She is especially interested in capturing those processes and phenomena through the lens of people's mobility and activity spaces. In her PhD thesis “”, Kerli used spatial Big Data sources, and in particular mobile phone data, to provide a novel understanding about people’s daily mobility and activity spaces, and about the segregation patterns and socio-spatial inequalities these create.

Currently, Kerli works as a Research Coordinator in the ERC-funded research project “”. In GREENTRAVEL, her research focusses on understanding the equity of access and exposure to greenery during people’s everyday urban travels. Besides, Kerli is responsible for the GREENTRAVEL project administration and reporting, and supporting the daily operations of the Digital Geography Lab.

kerli.muurisepp[at]helsinki.fi

Postdoctoral Researcher, PhD

Milad is a postdoctoral researcher specializing in transportation and well-being. As a quantitative geographer, he uses big data and mobility data to explore how urban travel environments impact well-being and overall quality of life. His research aims to develop methods to study human mobility and its interactions with the environment.

Currently, Milad is involved in the and projects, where he primarily conducts quantitative analysis. He previously contributed to the project, a collaboration between Western University in Canada—where he studied his PhD and received the Inspiring Mind of 2023 award—and the University of Birmingham, UK. At Western University, he taught the geocomputation course and led several labs, earning a teaching award for his contributions in these roles.

milad.malekzadeh[at]helsinki.fi

Postdoctoral Researcher, PhD

Riku is a postdoctoral researcher studying the future of work. He is interested in contemporary worklife issues such as the digital transition, different remote and hybrid working arrangements, employee well-being, and sustainable people management. His approach to studying these topics is primarily qualitative, and he aims to give voice to regular employees in modern organizations through interviewing as well as ethnographic and discursive methods.

Riku holds a doctorate from Aalto University School of Business. His dissertation is a case study about how employees experienced the strategic renewal of OP Financial Group, which coincided with the rapid rise of remote working due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, Riku works in the WinWin4WorkLife project, the goal of which is to promote healthy, inclusive, and sustainable remote work futures for both employees and employers in urban, rural, and cross-border areas. Outside academia, Riku plays floorball at the highest level in the Finnish F-liiga and is also an avid reader.

riku.reunamaki[at]helsinki.fi

Postdoctoral Researcher, PhD

Silviya Korpilo earned a MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development from University College London, UK and PhD degree in Environmental Change and Policy from Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences at University of Helsinki. Silviya generally studies human-nature interactions in cities from a socio-ecological-technological systems perspective and particularly how participatory GIS methods can support planning and management of urban green spaces. Her research interests include multisensory methods for studying human experiences in urban nature, environmental justice and using novel technologies to capture and analyse urban green space use. Before joining the Digital Geography Lab at the beginning of 2023, Silviya has been working on the project examining the links between landscape and soundscape quality and psychological restoration.

Silviya is also currently working in the  project that investigates the quality, availability and wellbeing impacts of green urban travel environments. The study employs experimental designs in laboratory and in-situ settings, and cutting edge technologies like Virtual Reality and wearable sensors. 

silviya.korpilo[at]helsinki.fi

Postdoctoral Researcher, PhD 

Tuomas is a post-doctoral researcher who studies urban diversity with big data sources. He is interested in understanding how languages and activities of people intertwine with population dynamics and segregation during daily activities and decade-long trajectories. He studies these matters with an interdisciplinary selection of methods ranging from spatial analysis and statistics to computer vision and natural language processing techniques. Tuomas’ goal is to help cities become more equal and socially sustainable. 

Currently, Tuomas works in project, which explores how interregional mobility of the European population has changed within Europe during the green and digital transitions. Tuomas' did his PhD in a research project focusing on . He also contributed to other research projects in the group related to big data analysis of and . He also maintains the database of the research group and is an active teacher of masters-level GIS courses. Outside academia, he likes to go skateboarding and fishing. 

tuomas.vaisanen[at]helsinki.fi 

Doctoral Researcher, MSc

Håvard is a doctoral researcher studying cross-border mobility within the Academy of Finland project "". He focuses on examining individual spatial mobilities, transnational spaces and cross-border interactions using big data sources like social media data. Håvard holds a BSc in Human Geography from the University of Oslo and an MSc in Geoinformatics from the University of Helsinki. In his Master’s thesis, he studied . Håvard teaches two MSc level courses at the Department of Geosciences and Geography: and .

havard.aagesen[at]helsinki.fi



 

Doctoral Researcher, MSc

Jussi is a doctoral researcher part of the , specialized in the mapping of perceived greenery, using novel methods and data sources. His research focuses on trying to more deeply understand how we should map street-level greenery using a combination of various machine learning, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and in-situ approaches. He has a MSc in geography, specializing in geoinformatics, from the University of Helsinki. In his thesis he studied .

jussi.torkko[at]helsinki.fi

Doctoral Researcher, MSc

Leyi is a doctoral researcher on the , focusing on identifying new visitor typologies in nature recreation using mobile big data. She aims to  understand “who” visit nature recreation and their corresponding visiting behaviors. She is also part of the , and her role is to analyze the characteristics of visitors. She holds a MSc in Geographic Information Science and Systems from the University of Zurich. investigated visitor behaviors and city perceptions through semantic trajectories using Foursquare check-ins and Flickr tags.

leyi.xu[at]helsinki.fi
 

Doctoral Researcher, MSc

Matti is a doctoral researcher working in the project. His work is focused on using novel big data sources for understanding the environmental impacts of human visits to national parks and other green spaces. In , he studied the role of nature for tourists visiting the Canary Islands, making use of Flickr posts and their contents. 

matti.hastbacka[at]helsinki.fi

Doctoral Researcher, MSc

Robert is a doctoral researcher in the project. His focus is on mapping urban greenery from human perspective and the development of a human-perspective greenery index. More specifically, he aims to understand how the quality of the greenery and seasonal variations can be considered there, using computer vision techniques and remote sensing-based data. His research also includes spatial analysis of where and when citizens get exposed to greenery during their everyday trips, through applying routing tools and mobility patterns.

Robert holds a MSc degree in Environmental Science from the University of Gothenburg. His research there was focused on urban climate and spatial analysis of thermal comfort distribution in Gothenburg.

robert.klein[at]helsinki.fi



 

Doctoral Researcher, MSc

Tatu is a doctoral researcher studying the use of national parks and green spaces from big data in the project. His role in the project is especially to further develop methods and evaluate novel datasets for visitor monitoring. These questions are tackled through mobile data sources, such as mobile phone, sports tracking and social media datasets. Tatu is a geographer specializing in Geoinformatics from the University of Helsinki. His interests lie in how geographical and linguistic computational methods and big data sources can be applied to understand human actions. He's additionally interested in applicability of big data in practice and the baggage brought in by biases and features of those data. In his Master’s thesis, Tatu explored . 

tatu.leppamaki[at]helsinki.fi

Doctoral Researcher, MSc

Xiao is a doctoral researcher, funded by the Doctoral Education Pilot for Mathematics of Sensing, Imaging and Modelling (DREAM). He has an interdisciplinary academic background in urban planning, geography, and artificial intelligence, with a multinational study/research experience across China, Malaysia, Estonia, Belgium, and Finland.

He is particularly interested in using geospatial big data and geo-computational methods to uncover the hidden mechanisms of urban (micro)mobility. His doctoral dissertation aims to apply agent-based and GeoAI models to study 1) travel mode choices, 2) cycling route choices, and 3) optimization of the bike lane system, providing insights and strategies for promoting cycling as a sustainable and healthy mode of transport in the urban setting.

xiao.cai[at]helsinki.fi
 

Project Planner, MSc

Anna holds a MSc in Geoinformatics from Aalto University, where she collaborated with the Finnish Geospatial Research Institute in her master's thesis to conduct eye-tracking user studies on map-reading performance, exploring how people interpret different types of maps. Here at DGL, Anna works with the , with her responsibilities including organising and coordinating researcher networks, events, and workshops. She alsos contribute to teaching materials and development tasks related to urban and spatial analytics.

anna.saarinen[at]helsinki.fi

VR Specialist, MSc

Omkaranathan is an XR specialist with extensive industry experience in areas of Computer Graphics including 3D visualization, Virtual/Augmented/Mixed Reality, VFX and CAD. He holds a Master's degree in Computer Animation and Game Development from Coventry University and spent most of his career in the industry. His previous work include building solutions and managing teams to create visual experiences in the fields of automotive , architecture, image processing, Hollywood movie visual effects, medical imaging, satellite data processing etc., in both startups and multi-national companies. He finds joy in exploring new ways to use the power of 3D visualization techniques to address practical real world problems and is interested in cross disciplinary collaborations that can benefit from the use of 3D computer graphics. Currently part of the project, he is engaged in the design and implementation of Virtual Reality urban environments featuring elements of greenery, seasonality, and navigation for conducting ex-situ experiments.

omkaranathan.ravindran[at]helsinki.fi

 

Project Planner, MSc

Rory holds a MSc in Geography (Geoinformatics) from the University of Helsinki, and Bachelors of Interdisciplinary Studies (Sust.Sci.) and Science (Environment) from the Australian National University. In a previous antipodean life down under, he worked as environment planner, primarily for large-scale renewable energy projects across NSW. Rory is intrigued by how people understand, value and communicate about the environments in which they live and how they manifest in community-based/led environmental stewardship, biodiversity conservation and restoration. He works as a project planner, supporting the implementation and management of the DGL's , while also keeping a side hustle with the at the University of Helsinki.

rory.taylor[at]helsinki.fi

Research assistant, MSc

Sini works as a research assistant for the project. She contributes to VR experiments that aim to explore how everyday travel environments impact human health and well-being. Sini holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Helsinki and is currently finalizing her master’s studies in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability, with a focus on urban ecological studies.  

sini.ruohomaki[at]helsinki.fi

Visitor/collaborator/new member of the team

Are you interested in our work and would like to join us as a guest researcher or a visiting PhD student? Please email digital-geography[at]helsinki.fi and let us know about your background and interests! We also encourage MSc students to contact us for potential thesis topics or internship related to our .