Methodological aspects of the use of GIS when clarifying information about cultural heritage (using the example of the historical center of Ulan-Ude)

Abstract

The article considers the use of geo-information systems to clarify information about cultural heritage sites, when maintaining the Unified State Register of Cultural Heritage Sites of the Peoples of the Russian Federation. For these purposes, was reconstructed exact parcels plan of the southern part of the historical center of Ulan-Ude (Verkhneudinsk) mid-XIX—early XX centuries. A technique is described based on the geo-referencing of areas adjacent to conventionally named supporting intersections that allow them to be geolocated accurately, as well as the use of cross-comparison of data from various sources, such as historical master plans, drawings of parcels of city estates, tax documents and modern topographic plans. Currently the study is in the works and it covers less than half of the historical center of the city (more than 90 parcels), which contains about half of the cultural heritage sites of the entire historical center of Ulan-Ude. The stages of research work are shown step by step: working with archival data, comparing the owners of parcels in various periods, the process of geo-linking drawings and plans, analyzing the state of streets in the present and past, the search, vectorization of historical drawings of parcels, buildings and structures is described, the translation from Old Russian measures of length to metric using computer-aided design systems is noted. On the basis of the study, work was carried out to clarify information about the object of cultural heritage of regional significance—the ensemble “Usad’ba kupchikhi Chernykh” (“Estate of the merchant Chernykh”). This documentation has successfully passed the state historical and cultural examination.