Russia Is among the World’s Top 10 Producers and Users of Spatial Data
Forecasting the economy’s demand for spatial data, remote sensing data, and geoinformation technologies is one of the key objectives of the study being conducted by HSE experts jointly with the Aerospace Research Institute, commissioned by Rosreestr. A public discussion of the interim results was held on 7 November at the conference ‘Spatial Data for the Digital Economy and Sustainable Development of the Russian Federation’.
From HSE the project team includes staff members of the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge and the Institute for Public Administration and Governance. Vladimir Salun, Director of the ISSEK Centre for Industry and Corporate Projects, supervises the research from HSE.
These topics are being studied in Russia together for the first time; the research covers activities of all authorities, regions, and organisations involved in the spatial data and geoinformation technologies field. The final report will be published in December 2019.
The conference participants discussed the current state of the sphere, and identified its key development areas. These include improving legal and regulatory documents on collection, processing, storage, and dissemination of spatial data, identifying best practices for use of this and remote sensing data and geoinformation technologies, and preparing recommendations on meeting relevant legal requirements. Key barriers hindering the industry’s development in the country were also identified, along with potential growth points. Relevant information is available on the project’s official website at pd. gosreforma. ru.
Vyacheslav Spirenkov, Deputy Head of Rosreestr, noted that ‘in the coming years Rosreestr will have to implement certain objectives of the national project ‚Digital Economy‚ and provide high-quality official spatial data to meet the needs of the state, businesses, and the public to the maximum possible extent. At the same time the department‚s activities should be as open as possible, effective, and relevant, while geo-information products should contribute to economic growth. Currently Russia ranks 8th-9th in the world by production and use of spatial data‚.
Vyacheslav Spirenkov also added that development of digital economy in Russia among other things implies creating the Unified Electronic Cartographic Framework (UECF). When spatial data will be generated and used on the basis of the UECF, it will ensure its compatibility and interoperability. Also, Rosreestr is currently working on a draft document that will set the basics for national geodesy and cartography policy, and outline key areas of the industry‘s development strategy. This document will provide for creating a special resource — the Unified Land Information Resource containing all sorts of geospatial information parameters and information on all land, regardless of which department owns the data.
Vladimir Salun, the study supervisor from HSE and Director of the ISSEK Centre for Industry and Corporate Projects, said that ‚the results of the study show that spatial data is more often used by regional executive authorities than by federal ones for their respective purposes. This is because regional executive authorities tend to deal with specific problems. Such data is more relevant for monitoring, planning, and making management decisions, providing public services, creating registers and databases, producing analytics and forecasts, exercising control and supervising, etc. Currently about 10% of available spatial data is used in the country‚s economy. By 2030 this figure is expected to reach 50-70%‘.
Recently, on the basis of the findings of the study, Rosreestr reported projected 10-fold growth of the Russian spatial data market by 2030.
The conference participants (in person and online) included representatives of Rosnedra, Roscosmos, the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Agriculture, of the business community, universities, R&D organisations, and guests from CIS member states.