For some, Finland conjures up magical images of Lapland, the Northern Lights, Santa Claus and reindeer. Others know Finland as an innovative powerhouse of telecoms and digital technology. Now, a creative innovation from Elisa is bringing both these views together, utilising satellite-based positioning and smart technology to make the daily work of reindeer herders significantly easier and improve the animals’ welfare.
In Finland, reindeer are a normal part of life – a typical herd animal and an important source of livelihood for many people in the wild north of the country. A single reindeer farm can own hundreds of reindeer, which roam freely over vast areas across the frozen landscape in search of food. In the past, tracking their herds required farmers to travel long distances and to have a profound understanding of nature and the local conditions.
Now, Elisa has launched a reindeer tracking service developed in close collaboration with reindeer herders themselves. The system utilises the excellent coverage of Elisa’s mobile network and the Internet of Things to provide precise, real-time data about the location and welfare of each and every reindeer in a farmer’s herd, freeing up a significant amount of time for herders.
A simple yet sophisticated solution
The concept behind the service is simple: a collar with a positioning device is attached to the reindeer’s neck. The collar is designed so that it does not disturb the reindeer. Reindeer herders can monitor the movements and welfare of their herds via an app on their phone or computer, making it easy to follow where their animals are and making their work significantly easier.
“For example, rounding up reindeer from across the wilderness and sorting them or marking and tagging the calves has always been very time-consuming and laborious work. If you know the exact location of each individual reindeer, the work becomes considerably quicker and easier”, explains Markus Ahokangas, Elisa’s Regional Director for northern Finland. “Reindeer also sometimes get trapped in deep snow or by thin ice, and they can get injured by predators or road traffic. This system sends out alerts in real time if an animal’s situation changes, making it much easier for herders to rescue their animals. Without these devices, many of these animals would be trapped in the wilderness with little chance of help.”
Elisa provides the entire solution – positioning device, app and subscription – making it simple to acquire the system and roll it out across the herd.
Similar solutions have been tried before, but the new service takes advantage of the excellent coverage and connectivity of Elisa’s network, which is crucial in the challenging conditions that prevail in Lapland. As reindeer do not respect national borders and will wander between Finland, Norway and Sweden, the system has versatile map views that cover Finland’s neighbours as well.
Developed with reindeer herders to meet real-world needs in challenging conditions
The service has been developed through two years of close collaboration with around 20 reindeer herders in Finland, Sweden, and Norway in real usage environments – the fells, forests and wilderness of Lapland. The aim of the thorough development work was to meet the actual needs that reindeer farmers have, and the system is available to herders in Sweden and Norway as well.
“Our system utilises the latest technology and up to 130 positioning satellites to make sure that location tracking is accurate and extremely precise. Battery life was a core factor in the development of the system, and for example, herders can adjust how frequently the collars send updates to optimise the batteries’ power use and make sure they last throughout the season”, says Jale Naskali, who is responsible for IoT solutions at Elisa.
Reindeer herders have been enthusiastically signing up for the service since its launch in the autumn, with advance sales of hundreds of devices to dozens of customers.
“In Finland alone, there are around 6,000 reindeer herders with about 200,000 reindeer, so there’s a lot of room for growth. We are actively seeking feedback from users to help us in continuing to develop the service. We’re already planning changes and improvements to the map views based on what herders have told us”, says Ahokangas.
With real-time location tracking, reindeer herders can monitor their animals across the vast Arctic landscapes, improving safety and efficiency like never before. Now Santa will always know where Rudolph is.
The convergence of tech and brands 