Creation of an interactive map of the disappeared settlements of the Omsk region through the use of GIS technologies

Sokolova Evgeniya Valer'evna ORCID: 0000-0002-1069-0389 PhD in History Associate Professor of the Department of Humanitarian, Socio-Economic and Fundamental Disciplines; Omsk State Agrarian University named after P.A. Stolypin 644008, Russia, Omsk region, Omsk, Institutskaya Ploshchad str., 1 lev-15@mail.ru

Petrov Mikhail Aleksandrovich ORCID: 0009-0004-0779-519X Teacher, Omsk State Agrarian University named after P.A. Stolypin 644008, Russia, Omsk region, Omsk, Institutskaya Ploshchad str., 1 ma.petrov@omgau.org

Introduction. At the beginning of the XX century, 87% of the Russian population lived in rural areas. After 100 years, the situation has changed dramatically: according to the Federal State Statistics Service, as of October 1, 2021, there were 25% of the rural population in Russia [Results of the All-Russian Population Census 2020. Change in the population of Russia. URL: https://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn/2020/Tom1_Chislennost_i_razmeshchenie_naseleniy (accessed: 11/15/2023)]. Every year several thousand Russian villages become abandoned, and then disappear from the map of rural settlements of the country. For example, according to the results of the All-Russian Population Census of 2020, 1,471 rural localities were registered in the Omsk region, 59 of them without a population [Results of the All-Russian Population Census of 2020 Change in the population of Russia. URL: https://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn/2020/Tom1_Chislennost_i_razmeshchenie_naseleniy (date of reference: 11/15/2023)]. The study of the causes of the disappearance of rural settlements is of both scientific and practical importance. The results obtained make it possible not only to identify the specifics of the implementation of state policy in a particular territory, but also to predict the further formation of a rural settlement network. Also, the results of the study may be of interest to regional authorities in terms of analyzing the experience of organizing the location and communication of rural settlements.

The territorial scope of the study includes the territory of the modern Omsk region, which took shape in 1944.

Results. The disappearance of villages is an integral element of the formation of a map of the rural settlement network of any territory. The political and socio-economic characteristics of individual chronological stages largely determined the appearance and disappearance of villages, the way of life and way of life of peasants.

The problems of the formation of the rural settlement network of the territory occupy a significant place in modern Russian historiography ^{[2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 12]}. Among the reasons for the disappearance of villages, the authors especially highlight the state policy in the field of the agricultural sector of the economy and the natural and geographical factor, which determined not only the economic specifics of the territory, but also the social and living conditions of rural residents.

The main reasons for the disappearance of villages in the 1920s and 1930s were the policy of collectivization, remoteness from the center and lack of roads, surrounded by swamps, which limited them to the necessary amount of good arable land. The second period of reduction in the number of rural settlements covers the 1950s and 1960s. He was associated with the policy of enlarging farms and the liquidation of "unpromising villages". The 1990s are another stage in the disappearance of villages. It is connected, first of all, with the entry of the rural population into the market economy. The destruction of collective farms and the emergence of modern organizational and legal forms of management did not allow small villages to integrate into the new system. In addition, the market was quickly captured by large agricultural holdings and joint-stock companies, with which it turned out to be impossible to compete. The reduction in the rural population led to a reduction in social and cultural infrastructure (closure of schools, hospitals, rural clubs); district centers and cities have become especially attractive for young people.

The result of these processes in the regional aspect was a significant change in the map of rural settlements of the Omsk region. If, according to the results of the All—Russian Population Census of 2002, there were 1,524 rural settlements in the Omsk region (23 of them without a population) [The results of the All-Russian Population Census of 2002 Change in the population of Russia. URL: http://www.perepis2002.ru/index.html?id=13 (date of reference: 11/15/2023)], then according to the results of the 2020 Census there were 1,471 settlements (59 of them without a population) [Results of the All-Russian Population Census 2020. Change in the population of Russia. URL: https://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn/2020/Tom1_Chislennost_i_razmeshchenie_naseleniy (date of address: 11/15/2023)]. Most of these settlements fall in the northern regions of the region (Ust-Ishim, Tarsky and Znamensky districts). Cartographic materials clearly show the scale of changes. For example, comparing a fragment of the territory of the northern part of the Tarsky district of the Omsk region in a time interval of more than 100 years, we see how many settlements were abandoned during this time (Fig. 1).

A. Fragment of a map of Tarsky uyezd of Omsk province of the beginning of the XX century

B. Fragment of the map of the modern Omsk region

Figure 1. Localization density of rural settlements in the northern part of the Tarsky district of the Omsk region

Cartographic materials are one of the informative sources for studying the process of forming a map of rural settlements of the Omsk region in terms of disappeared villages.

The cartographic materials collected by the authors of the study, the scale of the disappearance of villages, the new technical capabilities that the researcher receives today, as well as the need for interdisciplinary research led to the need to digitize cartographic material and build a single interactive map of the territory with embedded historical attributive (semantic) data. To implement this task, the technologies of modern geographic information systems (GIS) were used. The use of GIS technologies in historical research is one of the new directions of Russian historical science and has not yet become widespread ^{[1, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11]}.

A geographic information System (GIS) is a system for collecting, storing, analyzing and graphically visualizing spatial (geographical) data and related information about necessary objects. Maps created using GIS are a new generation of maps that allow you to visualize the past. Not only geographical, but also statistical, demographic, technical and many other types of data can be applied to maps created using GIS technologies and a variety of analytical operations can be applied to them. In addition, using GIS technologies, the researcher gets the opportunity to identify hidden relationships and trends that are difficult or impossible to establish using the usual paper maps.

As a result of digitization of terrain maps of various time intervals using GIS technologies, a vector electronic map of the Omsk region was formed within its modern borders, which reflects the historical picture of the urbanization of the population in layers, followed by the desolation of villages and villages. The GIS software interface made it possible to synchronize each layer of the map with a specific year, which made it possible to trace the visual picture of the disappearance of rural settlements, as well as to determine the geographical vector of this process.

An important step in the digitization of cartographic material in the framework of the study is the creation of an interactive map of disappeared settlements within the borders of the modern Omsk region on the basis of an already created layered electronic map. Unlike a conventional electronic map, an interactive map will allow you to introduce additional information about reflected objects on the map (in particular, about disappeared settlements). Each locality that has already disappeared from modern maps will have a pop-up interactive tab with a historical description of the village or village collected as part of the study, archival data, photographic materials and other information.

Also, the interactive map, if possible, will contain detailed plans of the disappeared settlements themselves. Partially similar plans have been preserved on large—scale maps of the Soviet era, and for settlements that have disappeared since the end of the XX century to the present time, settlement plans can be built using remote sensing materials. For example, for one of the settlements in the north of the Omsk region, the village of Knyazevka of the Tarsky district, which disappeared from modern maps of the Omsk region more than 20 years ago, the outline of the road and street network, land plots and the partial location of houses are clearly traced from satellite images (Fig. 2).

A. Satellite image from the Google Earth geoinformation system

B. Satellite image from the geographic information system Yandex.Maps

Figure 2. Satellite images of the neighborhood of D. Knyazevka of the Omsk region

As a result of the work on deciphering satellite images from various sources, as well as working with large-scale cartographic material characterizing various time intervals, it is possible to recreate the plan of a village that was abandoned by residents (Fig. 3).

Figure 3. The recreated plan of the abandoned d. Knyazevka of the Omsk region

To check the "correctness" of such plans allow the memories of former residents of settlements, who make additional details after reviews of such plans and sometimes even with historical references and memories of residents of houses.

Conclusion. The interactive map of the disappeared villages of the Omsk region created as a result with embedded attributive (semantic) data in the form of historical references and materials, photographic materials and with partially detailed plans of the settlement will allow preserving the history of these settlements in a single systematized space. Detailing the layout of villages in combination with the memories of their inhabitants makes it possible not only to recreate the appearance of settlements, but also to reconstruct the life of disappeared villages. The layered presentation of information creates conditions for visualizing the process of forming a map of rural settlements of the territory to establish the factors that determined the appearance and disappearance of villages. The interactive map of the disappeared settlements of the Omsk region, created with the help of GIS technologies, acts as a modern source that allows conducting interdisciplinary research, popularizing the material for a wide range of users, testing new methods of historical research.

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