Data on different types of green spaces and their accessibility in the seven largest urban regions in Finland

Abstract

Access to green spaces in urban regions is vital for the well-being of citizens. In this article, we present data on green space quality and path distances to different types of green spaces. The path distances represent green space accessibility using active travel modes (walking, cycling). The path distances were calculated using the pedestrian street network across the seven largest urban regions in Finland. We derived the green space typology from the Urban Atlas Data that is available across functional urban areas in Europe and enhanced it with national data on water bodies, conservation areas and recreational facilities and routes from Finland. We extracted the walkable street network from OpenStreetMap and calculated shortest paths to different types of green spaces using open-source Python programming tools. Network distances were calculated up to ten kilometers from each green space edge and the distances were aggregated into a 250 m × 250 m statistical grid that is interoperable with various statistical data from Finland. The geospatial data files representing the different types of green spaces, network distances across the seven urban regions, as well as the processing and analysis scripts are shared in an open repository. These data offer actionable information about green space accessibility in Finnish urban regions and support the integration of green space quality and active travel modes into further research and planning activities.