Buryatia Pushes Toward High-Precision Digital Mapping
The Russian republic of Buryatia has reached 95.5% coverage with modern digital maps, with most of its territory now represented by high-resolution orthophotos and large-scale digital plans at 1:2,000.
The digitization effort is part of the federal program “Natsionalnaya sistema prostranstvennykh dannykh” (National Spatial Data System). Since 2023, specialists have been producing detailed maps of cities and settlements. These datasets underpin real-world activity - from building roads, housing and tourist trails to monitoring environmental conditions such as Lake Baikal. This year, new mapping will cover the Okinsky District, the settlement of Turka and a special economic zone in the Baikal region. All maps are integrated into a single digital repository - the “Yedinaya elektronnaya kartograficheskaya osnova” (Unified Electronic Cartographic Base, EEKO).
New orthophoto maps provide a significant boost to the accuracy of the Unified State Register of Real Estate. In the past, even minor errors caused land boundaries to shift and forced utilities to be laid with limited visibility. Now, territorial development becomes more predictable. The environmental impact is also notable. In sensitive areas - and Lake Baikal is a protected zone - planning errors carry high risk.
Room for Growth
“The state program ‘Natsionalnaya sistema prostranstvennykh dannykh’ has four main goals: to create a unified geospatial system in Russia and to improve the quality of data in the Unified State Register of Real Estate. In this direction, extensive work is underway with the regions. By 2027, the plan is to obtain complete data on all boundaries - regions, municipalities, settlements and territorial zones - and eliminate inconsistencies. Equally important goals include achieving digital maturity and improving public services and platforms to support socioeconomic development for citizens and businesses,” said Rosreestr head Oleg Skufinsky.
At present, the unified digital platform includes 5,300 layers of spatial data. Information is aggregated from 139 information systems, with 64 regions already contributing data. The remaining regions are expected to connect by the end of the year. By 2030, the unified digital spatial data platform and the unified electronic cartographic base are expected to be fully completed, integrating previously fragmented land and property data nationwide. By that point, 95% of all data should be complete and accurate.
A Clear Roadmap
“Data on the boundaries of approximately 7.8 million objects require clarification due to accumulated errors, including around 2.6 million cases related to registry corrections. Land boundaries often overlap, and there were discrepancies between datasets such as the Unified State Register of Real Estate and the Forest Register. Over the past six years, we have reduced these inconsistencies across nearly 309.9 million hectares,” Skufinsky noted.
Since 2020, the number of land plots without clearly defined boundaries has decreased by 9.1 million. By the end of 2025, the share of plots with defined boundaries is expected to reach 72%, and by 2030 - 95%.
Achieving 95.5% mapping coverage in Buryatia provides a practical tool for daily governance - from monitoring construction to environmental oversight. With broader use of orthophoto imagery, authorities gain a clearer, data-driven view of how territories evolve. Once the EEKO reaches full data coverage, the region will be able to deploy real-time urban planning analytics. Investors will no longer need months to gather documentation; they will be able to see land constraints online.
In the coming years, the key metric will not be the percentage of digitization, but the savings on approvals, shorter construction timelines and the disappearance of land disputes. Buryatia is building a spatial data layer that could underpin the country’s digital future.
