Moskovsky Komsomolets (MK) has published an article about a new study from the European University at St. Petersburg. Researchers analyzed seasonal snowmobile and all-terrain vehicle routes in the Khatango-Anabarsky district (northern Krasnoyarsk Krai) and Yakutia. To do this, they proposed a new approach to mapping northern territories, combining remote sensing of the Earth via satellite imagery with methods from social anthropology.
Here is an excerpt from the MK article:
"University scientists studied more than 200 satellite images—from archival ones dating back to the 1970s to contemporary ones. This made it possible to document existing Arctic routes and assess their historical dynamics over several decades. The collected data formed the basis of a complex spatial database in a GIS (Geographic Information System). The researchers also found and scanned archival maps from different periods, digitized them, and performed georeferencing."
Following the remote sensing work, the scientists traveled to the tundra to conduct in-depth interviews with local residents. Project leader Valeria Vasilyeva, a senior researcher at the Center for Social Studies of the North, notes:
"In recent years, the intensity of snowmobile travel in eastern Taimyr has decreased. This appears to have been influenced by the rising cost of equipment and stricter controls on natural resource use. In effect, we are observing how the living space of local communities is gradually shrinking."
"Our research is not just a scholarly task. It is a tool for bridging the gap between the real lives of northerners and state support measures, which, due to the region's geographic and informational remoteness, do not always correspond to actual needs and the local logic of life."
The project, "Mapping Social Connections: Arctic Land-Based Mobility in Satellite Images and Its Cultural Meaning," was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF) under grant 25-28-01342.