Russia’s Arctic Region Taps Into GLONASS to Digitize City Life

At SPIEF 2025, the Arkhangelsk region—a northern outpost with big tech ambitions—signed a landmark agreement with navigation giant GLONASS to supercharge the digital transformation of its urban systems

The partnership aims to weave satellite-driven intelligence into everything from public transport and utilities to environmental surveillance and city planning.

Under the agreement, Arkhangelsk will expand its use of the ERA-GLONASS platform, a homegrown satellite ecosystem already embedded in over 1,600 public transport vehicles and 3,000 municipal machines. The plan? Smarter logistics, real-time monitoring of illegal logging and forest fires, and a new wave of connected infrastructure that reshapes how cities serve their citizens.

“The pilot program for forest equipment tracking proved its worth in 2024,” said Governor Alexander Tsybulsky. “Now we’re scaling that success across sectors.”

The initiative highlights a broader federal strategy: integrating regional systems with national digital platforms to elevate cities like Arkhangelsk into leaders of smart governance across the Russian North.

“This isn’t just about sensors and satellites,” added GLONASS CEO Alexey Raykevich. “It’s about reimagining how municipalities operate in the era of real-time data.”