Application of GIS Technologies and Aerial Photography for Geoinformation Mapping and Modelling of Relief of Agroland Landscapes

Abstract

The article is devoted to one of the topical applied areas of agrarian landscape research – geoinformation mapping, the development of maps and models of the topography of agricultural areas. The authors demonstrate results of works on large-scale geoinformation mapping and modeling of the topography of the oldest region of bogharic agriculture of Kazakhstan – North Kazakhstan region using methods and materials of remote sensing data and GIS technologies. The main source material in the study was a series of aerial photographs obtained from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The site of photographing was carried out by GEOSCAN-Kazakhstan LLP with using the Geoscan-201M Agro/Geodesy aerial photography complex. Characteristics of photographing: height – 280 m, visible range – 5 cm/pixel, multispectral – 13 cm/pixel. Geoinformation data on the nature of the relief were obtained during field studies in 2018-2020. Studies were carried out at the local level on the example of agricultural area located in the north of the region within the forest and steppe arable small-circuit agrarian landscape. Based on the results of the study, an electronic vector basis and specialized attribute data of the key area in the GIS environment, a digital relief model were prepared, spatial analysis and modeling of the geomorphological device of the arable surface were performed. The importance of the work is given by a significant agrogenic transformation of the relief of the definite locality during the almost 270-year history of agriculture. A series of maps of the main characteristics and morphometric indicators of the relief, significant from the point of view of crop production intensification and the development of accurate (precision) agriculture of the region, has been worked out. As a result of the study, the methodology of large-scale geoinformation mapping and modeling of the terrain of agrolandscapes in the GIS environment based on aerial photographs from UAVs was developed and tested. The algorithm of work has been compiled, starting from field studies, completing with the development of thematic maps and morphometric analysis of the relief and nature of the surface structure of the studied area.