Experience of adding spatial information to the database of water bodies in a GIS environment

The article describes the experience of adding new objects to the existing reference database of the rivers of the Republic of Mordovia in a GIS environment, which contains information about water bodies from the reference manual “Hydrological knowledge”. Watercourses and reservoirs from the official list of objects subject to regional state control and supervision over the use and protection of water bodies on the territory of the Republic of Mordovia were added to the database. An assessment of the temporal reliability of the data was carried out, since over time the river network has undergone changes, the names of individual water bodies have become outdated. In order to update the data, modern maps, a register of geographical names of objects in the Republic of Mordovia, and satellite images were used. The functionality of the ArcGIS GIS package was used in the work. The Linear Referencing Tools were very useful, allowing us to use a linear coordinate system to determine the distances from the mouth of the main river to its tributaries. The created database of water bodies of Mordovia performs a reference and information function. For the convenience of database users, attribute information about individual objects can be displayed in a pop-up HTML map window, where you can include photos and links to files with various information about the object. With the help of GIS technologies, it is possible to perform cartometric determinations, refine and add information about other water bodies, conduct spatial analysis, and create maps using geoinformation mapping methods. The results obtained serve as a significant step towards promptly providing consumers with up-to-date reference information about water bodies in various forms.