Atlas of Asian Russia: Scope, Conception, Structure, and Stages

Russia is faced with the tasks of apperceiving the historical, modern, and predicted role of the country’s eastern regions in the new geopolitical and economic environment. The production of a new atlas of Asian Russia by using newly developed and created spatial databases, as well as previously issued maps and atlases based on the system approach to creating cartographic models at different scale levels, can be an important tool for solving these tasks. The new atlas will make it possible to make an inventory and perform a visualization and a scientific analysis of the geopolitical, historical–geographical, resource–economic, sociodemographic, and ecological situation in the largest macroregion of Russia. New types and themes of the maps will be proposed for the first time and will make it possible to determine the transition models of different territories in Siberia and the Far East to sustainable balanced development. The atlas will help in a scientific understanding of the processes in nature and society; contribute to the development of naturelike technologies and human–machine systems for environmental and ecosystem management; and display the regional uniqueness of the ethical aspects of technological development—the main changes and transformations of social, political, and economic relations. The atlas will consist of two volumes: (1) the archaeology, history, and natural and cultural heritage of Asian Russia and (2) the nature, economy, population, and environmental situation of Asian Russia. The volumes will be accompanied by texts, plots, and photos. The atlas is planned to have an electronic version in 2024–2026 and will be issued in print in 2027–2028. Institutes of the Siberian and Far East Branches of the Russian Academy of Sciences, higher educational institutions of Siberia and the Far East, and the Faculty of Geography of Moscow State University will be involved in preparing the atlas. The principal coordinator of the project is the Sochava Institute of Geography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, which has extensive experience in the production of atlases.