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The political vectors of the eastern trend of Russia within the framework of Greater Eurasia are considered. The necessity and importance of its cartographic support has been proved. It is proposed to create the Atlas of Asian Russia (Siberia and the Far East) in digital and printed versions in 2024-2029 by the institutions of the eastern branches of RAS and universities. The atlas will be created on the model of academic atlases created and released by the V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography in recent decades. Developed content, structure, technical conditions of preparation of the Atlas. The atlas will consist of two volumes - «Archaeology, history, natural and cultural heritage» and «Nature, society, economy, ecological environment», from territorial blocks of different spatial level of cartography and modules, separated by thematic content. There are three two-year stages in the creation of the Atlas.

The article presents the experience of creating an atlas information system (AIS) that provides the collection, storage, processing of geodata and automated compilation of thematic maps according to user requests. The territory of Asian Russia, which is actively being developed and dynamically integrating into the Asia-Pacific region, was chosen as the object of cartographic research. AIS is intended to be a scientific reference system, subcontinental in territorial scope, and socio-economic in content. The information, technological and organizational structures of an AIS consisting of a database based on the ArcGIS software environment and four subsystems are described: an access subsystem; a geodata formalization subsystem; a subsystem of cartographic queries and a subsystem of cartographic reports. The information content of AIS is based on the materials of the state statistics. The technological basis is a server, a workstation with licensed ArcGIS software and cartographic workstations connected by a corporate network of BINM SB RAS. The access subsystem provides regulated access to cartographic resources and management tools in accordance with rights based on the system of classification and coding of mapping objects. The geodata formalization subsystem is designed to collect cartographic materials, evaluate their quality and content, vectorize and catalog the created information resources. The subsystem of requests for cartographic resources allows the formation of requests that meet the specified topological criteria and qualitative and quantitative conditions. The subsystem of cartographic reports provides compilation and interactive editing of thematic maps for various purposes and the required scale, as well as creation of any graphic materials and preparation of cartographic reports and presentations. For a comprehensive representation of the territory, a system of territorial and administrative mapping levels has been developed: the state level (:10 000 000-1:20 000 000); the district level (1:5 000 000-1:10 000 000); the subjective level (1:1 000 000-1:5 000 000); the administrative level (:500 000-1:1 000 000). A system of socio-economic indicators has been formed to map the socio-economic dynamics of Asian Russia, a methodology for mapping socio-economic processes based on a statistical data warehouse has been developed, and an example of compiling a thematic map is presented.

Atlas is a system of geographical maps, organically linked and complementary to each other. Previously, the atlas was printed in traditional paper format, limited to a limited number of copies and distributed through a certain network of subscribers. It is shown that with the development of information technology, there is a possibility to present an atlas in the form of a web-application of the Internet. Several advantages of web-access to the atlas are considered: a larger number of users, dynamic map display, constant updating of data, regular addition of new maps and so on. Implementation of computing services in the atlas allows users to carry out operational analysis of data, to display information in different temporal or spatial slices etc. which greatly expands the range of tasks for which an atlas can be useful. The method of composition of services has been developed, which allows to create maps. The methodology forms compositions of services based on statistics of use of services by users, metadata of services and ontologies. It was concluded that the application of the methodology can greatly simplify the creation of new maps and allow to create cartographic works according to user requests. It is also shown that the developed methodology allows atlas users to rapidly apply analysis techniques to atlas data, create new maps and provide software access to data based on standards using a single directory system and search data based on their metadata descriptions, allows users to apply various tools in the form of services for operational data processing, display of information in different time or space positions, i.e. expands the possibilities of using atlas for a wide range of tasks.

Prediction of vegetation fire occurrence, development and effects is impossible without maps containing pyrological characteristics of vegetation fuels (VF). The forest fire maps created in Russia during forest inventory management reflect the fire hazard of forest areas only in a rough integrated form and are intended for fire prevention arrangement of territories, and not for the purpose of fire behavior prediction. Analysis of the international VF mapping experience has shown that it is difficult to borrow it due to historically established approaches to the pyrological classification of vegetation in different countries. In Russia, the VF classification, which made it possible to create multi-scale VF maps, was developed at the V.N. Sukachev Institute of Forest of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the basis of many years of fundamental pyrological research. Examples of information databases have been created for making large-scale VF maps for the Chunsky Forest Office in the Krasnoyarsk Angara region and nature reserves: “Stolby” (now a national park), Sayano-Shushensky, Kuznetsky Alatau, Ubsunur basin. Software programs have been developed and registered for predicting fire occurrence, development and immediate effects based on VF maps, which makes it possible to prevent fires, and when they occur, to make optimal plans for their control and suppression, taking into account their possible development from surface to crown or ground fires, as well as to assess the possible tree mortality in stands of different tree species. The article provides an example of a VF map for the Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve, made in a GIS system using forest inventory data.

Achieving of long-term economic development is impossible without relying on high-tech business (HTB). It is high-tech and knowledge-intensive companies that contribute to the emergence and implementation of technological changes in the economy, which determine the transition to a higher level of development. The HTB companies’ development is the subject of numerous studies, with the regional level of analysis being particularly emphasized. Existing studies of Russian HTB show significant differentiation in regional development, they also identify characteristics of the regional environment that provide favorable conditions for the activities of high-tech and knowledge-intensive companies. The spatial distribution of Russian high-tech and knowledge-intensive companies is extremely uneven. The most successful companies are located in a limited number of regions, while there are differences between the European and Asian parts of Russia. Given the importance of the geographical level of the analysis, this article is aimed at substantiating the need to single out the geographical distribution of HTB as an independent subject of analysis. This paper presents a generalization of existing approaches to the analysis of the development of Russian HTB at the regional level, which reveals how the spatial factor is taken into account in the study of Russian practice. It is shown that despite the regional aspect of the analysis, the region is often considered as a combination of certain economic conditions, and not as a geographical unit. Thus, especially taking into account the great geographical diversity of Russian regions, there is a need for additional analysis of the inequality of regional development of HTB in terms of the geographical distribution of high-tech and knowledge-intensive activities. At the same time, the need to single out the regions of Asian Russia as a separate object of analysis is emphasized, since the trends in the development of HTB in this territory have their own distinctive features.

The article examines the evolution of scientific cartography in Russia and the mapping of Siberia and the Far East by academic and government expeditions of the XVIII - first half of the XIX century as relevant processes. Materials from the scientific heritage of the expeditions are analyzed from modern theoretical and methodological positions and the historical dynamics of cartography in Russia is traced. It is revealed that the form and content of cartographic works of the participants of the Russian expeditions of the first half of the XVIII century (D.G. Messerschmidt, the First and Second Kamchatka, etc.) indicate the formation of cartography as a science, its further evolution is associated with the results of the expeditions of the 1760s-1790s, and a new stage in the development of cartography is marked by the scientific works of G.A. Sarychev, I.F. Krusenstern and Yu.F. Lisyansky, F.P. Wrangell, F.P. Litke and other travelers of the first half of the XIX century.

The article examines the history of missionary development in Siberia and the Russian Far East from the late 16th to the early 20th centuries. Orthodox missionary activity of ascetics and saints significantly influenced the structuring of the entire space of Russia, contributed to the emergence of new areas, development centers and transport axes. In the developed areas, a symbiosis of religion and economy arose, reflected in the unique features of the sacred cultural landscape. A map of Orthodox missionary work in Siberia and the Russian Far East, as well as in adjacent foreign territories (China, Japan, Mongolia, Korea, etc.) has been compiled. The map shows the centers of missionary distribution in different time periods, educational institutions with missionary programs, places of activity of the most famous missionaries, as well as spiritual missions (Altai, Kyrgyz, Daurian, Kamchatka, Mongolian, Beijing, Korean, Japanese, Kodiak).

Land cover/land use maps compiled from remote sensing data provide information on vegetation types, existing land use, and their dynamics in an understandable language for solving management problems. To map the land cover of Asian Russia, the MODIS Land Cover Type map for 2023 with a spatial resolution of 0,05 degrees (17 classes) was intersected with the ecoregion map (42 regions). As a result of interpreting 399 region/class combinations obtained during the intersection, using thematic maps (landscape, vegetation, etc.) and space images from open sources, a hierarchical classification of land cover types and a corresponding map for the Asian part of Russia at a scale of 1:2 000 000 were compiled. The classification includes 6 types of natural zones and 76 types of land cover. The map can have practical value for territorial management at different levels and also serve as basic overview information for non-geographer specialists.

The article examines the challenges of mapping political-geographic processes and phenomena in the Asian part of Russia. It presents conceptual approaches to atlas mapping in political geography within the framework of preparing a special section, “Political Geography of Asian Russia”, for the forthcoming “Atlas of Asian Russia”. The political-geographic phenomena identified as the most significant subjects for cartographic representation include political boundaries, international cooperation among regions of Asian Russia, geopolitical phenomena, electoral events, and various aspects of regional identity. The cartographic representation of these processes reveals territories with multi-level overlapping factors influencing the political situation in the area under consideration. It is noted that both statistical data and constructs derived from their analysis can be subjects of cartographic representation. The article features maps such as “Electoral Behavior of Residents in the Baikal Regions during the All-Russian Vote on Amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation” and “Ethnic Diversity and Ethno-Administrative Divisions in the Asian Part of Russia”.

The article discusses the methodology and content of the maps in the botanical section of the new cartographic work “Atlas of Asian Russia”. In the thematic structure of the Atlas, maps of the botanical section occupy a special place among natural objects, revealing many aspects of biodiversity in its broadest manifestation at different levels of biota organization. The main themes of the maps in this section focus on the inventory of vegetation cover. The central place is traditionally occupied by a scientific reference overview map of the current vegetation of the Trans-Ural part of Russia, compiled within the framework of the methodology of the Siberian (Irkutsk) school of geobotanical mapping, founded by acad. V.B. Sochava. The map is compiled using a set of scientific data, the most important of which are: regional and overview geobotanical maps, materials from remote sensing of the Earth, and scientific publications on geobotany and floristics, as well as the stock materials of the V.B. Sochava Institute of Geography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The section will feature new types and themes of maps related to the biodiversity of Asian Russia. In this series, there will be an integrated map of the new generation “Biomes”, which, on a single scientific and methodological basis, displays ecosystems and biota diversity of lowland and mountainous territories in accordance with the bioclimatic parameters of the regions, taking into account the altitude belt in the mountains. The maps will be accompanied by texts, drawings, and graphs that complement their main content.