ИСТИНА

Introduction Russia contribution to the pilot World Atlas on LUCC presents the results of research project on LUCC in Russia , carried out at the Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University. The research is devoted to the assessment and mapping of land use / land cover of Russia using combination of traditional maps, remote sensing and in-field data of different spatial and temporal resolution. All currently available data (country, regional and local maps, satellite imagery, detailed ground-truthing field observations in key areas) have been collected and analyzed within the framework of GIS in order to determine their applicability for land use/ cover change modeling. Original methodology of landscape interpretation of land cover have been used. The study of long-term and short-term land use/ land cover dynamics allow to analyze their present status and trends of evolution.