GEOINFORMATION DATABASE IS THE BASIS OF CREATION OF VIRTUAL MUSEUMS ON HISTORICAL WATERWAYS OF RUSSIA

ABSTRACT

Complex historical and scientific research of ancient waterways has been carried out by the Department of the History of Earth Sciences of the Institute of the History of Natural Science and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in conjunction with the Geography Department of Moscow State University since 2003. Based on expeditionary research, collection and analysis of archival and published materials on historical waterways: “From the Varangians to the Greeks” and the Great Volga, Mariinskaya, North-Dvinskaya, Vyshnevolotskaya, Tikhvinskaya and other water systems, a geoinformation database of the virtual museum was created (available at http://waterways.ru/). Museums most effectively create the conditions for the preservation and presentation of unique documentary records of historical and cultural and natural heritage of our country. A virtual museum of ancient waterways is a combination of a traditional atlas and geographic information system (GIS) and includes cartographic materials collected by the authors in field expeditions, archives and libraries, as well as vector original maps that are GIS with large databases. The virtual museum will allow a wide range of users to obtain comprehensive information about the ancient waterways and their separate parts, human settlements, cultural and historical landscapes, their constituents.

Keywords: geoinformation database, waterways, virtual museum