GIS analysis of regional features of reproduction of the population in Kaluga region

Since the 1990s with the increase in the role of migration in the formation of the population in the post-Soviet space in the Kaluga region, as in other regions of Russia, the tendencies of population reproduction and its regional features have changed somewhat. There are many ways to analyze demographic processes. The advantage of the cartographic method is in the visual display of the characteristics of the objects of the territory in terms of space and time. With the use of geoinformation technologies, geographic information systems (GIS), in particular, it is worth talking about the improvement of the cartographic method and the formation of the geoinformation method in geography, new or previous methods and methods of cartography have appeared or have been updated, the study of demographic processes for the user of geoinformation systems proceeds more efficiently and quickly. In research were used descriptive-analytical, comparative, cartographic, geoinformation, centrographic methods. GIS analysis was carried out on the basis of the free cross-platform geographic information system QGIS (Quantum GIS). A unified technique for GIS analysis of the region’s demographic processes is being developed on the basis of methods and techniques of geoinformation modeling and mapping. For visualization and subsequent creation of maps, a number of methods and methods are used, including: typological, method of cartographic anamorphic images, method of qualitative and quantitative background, methods of areas, cartodiagrams, ranges of values, method of movement of arrows, etc. For geomodeling of the population reproduction in the Kaluga region, we have chosen 1989–2020. as covering the main trends of population reproduction in the post-Soviet period. As a result, we examined the demographic processes of the Kaluga region, namely, the regional features of the process of population reproduction in the region in the post-Soviet period and the role of migration as a factor in the formation of the population at this stage, the change in the settlement system within the region. The geodatabase “Demographic indicators of population reproduction in the Kaluga region” created for the analysis of regional features of the transformation of population reproduction, formed on the basis of custom sets of layers of spatial and semantic data of the districts of the Kaluga region, and built cartographic models.

Spot development of residential purpose objects as a method for solving territorial problems (on the example of the city of Kazan)

An increase in the number of inhabitants in cities, urbanization processes and congestion in infrastructure lead to a shortage of territories in urban systems. One of the most common ways to search for internal urban reserves is the implementation of infill (compaction) development. The purpose of this work is to analyze the infill development of residential facilities as a way to solve territorial problems (using the example of the city of Kazan). In the article, infill development is understood as a deviation from the general urban planning plan, when the construction of objects occurs on sites adjacent to the existing development. The authors created a register of residential buildings in Kazan, built over the period 1860–2019, deciphered and compared satellite images of 2004 and 2020, determined the functional use of land plots that preceded modern development. Spot buildings are found throughout the entire city of Kazan. However, the process of compaction of the urban fabric is uneven—it is most intense in the central, historical part of the city, which is valuable from the point of view of investors, in which a significant number of various cultural, educational, scientific institutions and other socially significant objects are concentrated. The largest number of episodes of sealing development was recorded in the Vakhitovsky district. In the period 2001–2019. 33.9 % of the total number of residential buildings in the Vakhitovsky district were built, and a significant part of them is “included” in the existing planning structure and refers to the sealing building. Closer to the periphery and borders of the city, the need for sealing construction decreases—less intensive processes of housing construction are typical for the outskirts of Kazan—Aviastroitelny, Kirovsky, Sovetsky and Privolzhsky.

Mapping of transformation processes in the ethnodemographic space of the Crimea

The article presents and summarizes the results of mapping transformational processes in the demographic and ethno-confessional space of the Crimea. Map plots reflect the options for visualizing data on demographic, ethnic and religious processes in the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol over the past decades. The maps illustrate the dynamics of the population size and density, its natural movement, the balance of migration, marriage and divorce, territorial features of the settlement of large and small ethnic groups of the Crimea, the placement of religious buildings and religious communities on its territory. Maps of rural settlement and the appearance of villages with endangered populations were created and analyzed. The types of dynamics of demographic, ethnic and confessional situations in the Crimea are determined. The analysis of the peculiarities of the dynamics of the ethnodemographic space of the Crimea during the change of its political subjectivity is carried out. The main spatial patterns of the processes that form the modern portrait of the population of the Crimean Peninsula are revealed. The conclusion is made about the possibility of cartographic study of the demographic and ethno-confessional specifics of the territory after preliminary differentiation of socio-cultural processes within its boundaries into large-scale and local ones. This allows us to clarify not only the spatial, but also the essential markers of their occurrence. In modern Crimea, large-scale transformational socio-cultural processes should include all the reproductive and migration changes that are the result of demographic breakdowns that began in the 1990s. The processes of changing its ethnic and confessional spaces should be considered local in Crimea. Their mapping revealed the narrowing nature of such a phenomenon as the polyethnicity of the territory of the Crimean Peninsula. Cartographic study of socio-cultural processes in the Crimea confirmed the author’s hypothesis that the Crimean regional community has not completed the process of post-Soviet transformation and continues to support the development trends established at the end of the twentieth century.

Genome instability as an indicator of environmental state in the Murmansk region

The data of various researchers indicate that the combined effects of natural and anthropogenic factors directly affect the nature of the territorial morbidity of the inhabitants of the Far North. In biomonitoring of the environment, a micronucleus test on human cells is widely used to assess the degree of genotoxicity of the comparison areas. The aim of the research is to study the local situation with the accumulation of lesions in the lymphocytes of children living in the Murmansk region using a micronucleus test. As a result of assessing the cytogenetic status of the child population living in the comparison territories (Krasnoshchelye, Lovozero, Umba, Apatity), specific territorial features of the cytogenetic status of children were revealed, which are probably associated with the prevailing morbidity in the territories comparisons. This is probably due to territorial genotoxic and toxic agents. Significant differences in the frequency of occurrence of binucleated lymphocytes with micronuclei in schoolchildren were noted when all cells (mononuclear, binuclear, trinuclear, quadrenuclear cells, as well as cells containing more than 4 nuclei) were taken into account between Krasnoshchelye, Lovozero (U = 45.0, p = 0.0009), Umba (U = 91.0, p = 0.0125) and Apatity (U = 113.0, p = 0.0125). Also, significant differences were noted between the frequency of occurrence of cells with micronuclei among cells that did not respond to the mitogenic signal (mononuclear) and contain more than 2 nuclei in lymphocytes between adolescents from Krasnoshchelye and Apatity (U = 109.0, p = 0.0093) and Umba (U = 73.5, p = 0.0025). When comparing the frequency of occurrence of all types of cells containing micronuclei in the lymphocytes of adolescents, significant differences were revealed between the frequency of occurrence of such cells in adolescents from Apatity and Umba (U = 97.0, p = 0.0036).

Analysis of the impact of the relief on the soil structure in Smolensk region

The main research topic is the theoretical justification of integrated regionalization of rural areas to optimize the use of natural agro-potential by developing conceptual frameworks and new methodological approaches to assessing the effectiveness of its use and determining environmentally and economically options for the interaction of natural and production-territorial systems. The problem of creating a theoretical (conceptual) model of integrated regionalization of rural areas using modern geographical methods and GIS technologies to optimize the use of natural agro-resource potential is arisen. The object of study is the natural agropotential of Smolensk region. Considering the complexity character of research we used the model area. The aim of the study is to assess the relationship of the spatial soil’s distribution and relief. For this aim, the model area on the territory of Smolensk region was chosen, digital model was created and analyzed. The research results have independent scientific interest and optimize the using of the natural agro-resource potential. The development of theoretical and methodological aspects of agricultural zoning is the most current problem of modern geography. The solution to this problem is necessary to develop recommendations for agricultural management. At the present stage of development of agriculture in Russia with extremely limited material, labor and financial resources, overcoming of the agrarian crisis will be possible on the basis of more efficient using of the natural potential of the territory. For the first time, the correlation of the spatial distribution of soil cover depending on the relief was studied using the model area of Smolensk region. The series of diagrams with the distribution of soil types by height, the distribution of the prevailing soil types on the slopes of different exposures, distribution of the prevailing soil types on the slopes of different angles have been constructed.

Assessment of the protective potential of the Moscow region soil cover to contamination with heavy metals and metalloids

Heavy metals and other trace elements that are not subject to degradation are among the priority pollutants. Significant amounts of heavy metals and related elements with variable valence are deposited on the soil surface as part of aerosols. Accumulating in the soil, they are very slowly removed from it, only changing the level of content or the state during migration, turning the soil over time into a source of secondary pollution. In this regard, an extremely urgent task is to assess the territory, especially such a highly developed and densely populated area as the Moscow Region, in terms of its protective potential to heavy metal pollution. The paper proposes and tested an algorithm for the cartographic assessment of the protective potential of the soil and vegetation cover of the region using GIS analysis methods based on the database “Digital medium-scale soil map of the Moscow region” and a vector map of forest cover. The formula used for calculations includes data on the soil texture, the content of organic matter in soil, the position of the soil in the landscape and the degree of forest cover of the territory. According to the proposed approach, in the Moscow region, the soil cover, taking into account the forest cover, forms 4 groups according to the level of protective potential for contamination with heavy metals and metalloids. The maximum estimate was obtained for noneroded sod-podzolic soils of medium or fine texture, gray forest soils, chernozems and peat bog soils under forest vegetation (17 % of the area). Unerroded soddy-podzolic soils of varying degrees of podzolization and gleying (45 %) received an average rating. Even lower is the protective potential of 22 % of the territory represented by eroded gray forest soils, various sod-podzolic, alluvial and peat bog soils. This group is the most heterogeneous in terms of soil texture, organic matter content and degree of forest cover. The group with a minimum protective potential included eroded soils, soils of gully-girder complexes, sod-podzolic soils of coarst texture, as well as alluvial peat and peaty soils (about 16 %).

Principles of incorporating data about the environmental condition of natural-historical parks of metropolises in the atlas information system (on the example of the Moskvoretsky park)

Within the framework of this research, the task of developing the principles of creating an atlas information system (AIS) for assessing the ecological state of specially protected natural areas of the Moscow metropolis was carried out. The research was carried out on the example of the Moskvoretsky park, the largest and most integrated natural-historical park in Moscow, located in the North-West and West administrative districts of the capital. Such parks have environmental, historical, cultural, educational and recreational significance as natural complexes and monuments of national history and culture that are especially valuable for the city. A general scheme for organizing data in the atlas information system about the protected areas of Moscow and specifically about the Moskvoretsky natural-historical park has been developed. All the various data are hierarchically linked. To obtain concentrated information, data from various sources were used and interconnected. The landscape and ecological structure of the Moskvoretsky park is considered. The historical and geographical processes that formed the appearance of the cultural landscapes of the natural-historical park—urbanization, hydrotechnical transformations, the construction of sports facilities, landscaping—are revealed. A map of the Moskvoretsky рark with all the protected areas that are part of its structure, other noteworthy objects, infrastructure, green areas was compiled. The role of this map is assumed as the basis for the further creation of an atlas information system and filling it with various data. A table for individual protected areas that are part of the structure of the Moskvoretsky рark, their types and main characteristics, features of natural and cultural heritage, cultural landscape, environmental problems, and conflicts of nature use are given has been compiled. The main environmental problem of the park is the expansion of urban construction, alienating the territory from the field of nature conservation. Prospects for the creation of AIS are associated with monitoring and solving environmental and cultural problems of a part of the metropolis that is part of the natural-historical park.

New localities of rare for the Arkhangelsk region speciesin the Lyamitsky landscape of the Onega peninsula

The Onega Peninsula is located in the north-west of Russia in the Arkhangelsk Region, juts out into the White Sea, is located in an area of a transitional climate from an oceanic to a continental temperate climatic zone, belongs to the central sector of the northern taiga zone. The flora and fauna of the peninsula are very diverse. A significant part of natural complexes is highly preserved and is ideal for biosphere monitoring. In connection with intensive industrial logging on the peninsula, there is a need to identify rare species of living organisms and determine measures for their protection. The article provides data on the finds of habitats of 11 rare species discovered by the author during field routes along the Lyamitsky landscape in the period from 2009 to 2020. Finds of 10 out of 11 species have not been previously published. In 2020, the state of a group of individuals of 1 of 11 species that had not yet formed a stable population was reexamined, the find of which was previously published. This species (derbyanka spikate) is new for the Arkhangelsk and all adjacent regions and needs to be entered into the Red Book of the Arkhangelsk Region, which includes the remaining 10 species. 4 species of them are also included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. The finds of the species belong to the lands of different purposes: to the forbidden zone of forests and to the lands of the forest fund leased by a logging company. The article discusses the number of discovered species and such a limiting factor as logging. The assessment of the feasibility of measures for the protection of species has been carried out. It was revealed that some of them (splachnums) increase in number due to felling, the number of others is not threatened by felling (common viper, etc.), to preserve the number of the third, special protection measures are required (pulmonary lobaria, truncated horn, etc.). The information obtained is processed cartographically using geoinformation technologies and can be used to replenish the database of the Red Book species and to organize their protection.

Calculation of gravitational corrections using airborn laser scanning data

Calculation of corrections to gravity measurements is one of the most important stages that determine the whole quality of research. Wrong corrections can lead to incorrect interpretation of the obtained measurements and lead to their false interpretation. To achieve highly accurate results, it is necessary to take into account not only the height, but also the entire array of information about the relief. In this case, level of detail of relief model becomes critically important, especially in case of working with rugged terrain with large number of vertically developed rock formations (outliers, rock faults, steep slopes). Now the methods normally used are based on the use of previously created materials from cartographic archives (topographic maps at a scale of 1:100,000–1:25,000). It is also possible to use open (free) terrain models. These materials have a number of drawbacks, for example, low detail of the microrelief and steep inclined surfaces (slopes, walls, faults, incisions) that have a significant effect on the values measured by gravimeters located at a small distance from such forms. The available methods do not assume ability to work with dense terrain models. These shortcomings lead to wrong corrections during gravimetric measurements. however, using of modern remote sensing methods makes possible to obtain a high-precision terrain models easily. The best opportunities are provided by lIDAR technology. here we describe differences between using lIDAR data and other types of data (1:25,000 maps, open data models), and make comparison between corrections, calculated using different data sources.

Visual characteristics of landscapes and methods for their assessment on GIS (Belogradchik rocks (Bulgaria) as an example)

Visual characteristics of landscapes are important factors for the assessment of tourist and recreational potential of territories. At present, a number of methodological approaches are applied to assess the visual characteristics of landscapes. They can be divided into traditional, associated exclusively with field research, and innovative, which is based on remote sensing data (RSD) of high spatial resolution and GIS technologies. Field assessment of the visual quality of landscapes utilizes a system of numerous elementary indicators to minimize subjectivity of assessment. They are conducted within separate areas or touristic routes. In its turn, modern GIS and high quality of remote sensing data allow assessing of most indicators of the visual quality of landscapes for any observation point on the entire territory. The main task of our research is to verify the results of automated processing of ultra-high resolution aerial photographs obtained from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) by field observations on a touristic route. The research was carried out on the territory of the “Belogradchik Rocks” Geopark (North-West Bulgaria). In our study, we estimated 4 out of 28 aesthetic indicators—the amount of mountain peaks visible from a site, the amount of mountain peaks on the skyline, the percentage of the forest-covered area, and the amount of open spaces in the wooded landscape. The obtained results confirmed that our approach allows calculating these aesthetic indicators at an accuracy level comparable to field observations.