Geoinformation and cartographic methods in the research of the rural population dynamics

The article deals with the dynamics of the rural population of Volgograd region for 1969-2010. The source materials of the study were archival statistical data on the population size of villages and rural settlements in 1969 and the results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census. The main purpose of the studyhas two components: the study of trends in the change of the rural population size and the spatial analysis of villages and rural settlements with different directions of the population dynamics. The main methods were the geoinformation and cartographic method, combining the possibilities of automated mapping according to classified indicators. The results of the work are two maps describing the dynamics of the population of villages and rural settlements. The author used such methods of cartographic representation as the method of cartodiagrams and the method of cartograms based on the classification of the numeric fields of attribute tables. The design and composition of maps was carried out in ArcGis10.3 geographic information system. The generalized conclusion based on the materials of the work is the prevalence of population decline trends in villages and rural settlements, the strengthening of this trend in the direction from east to west of the region. Natural and geographical areas with a predominance of the tendency for the reduction of the rural population by 50% or more are highlighted: the coast of the rivers Khoper, Buzuluk, Tersa. An increase in the rural population is observed in the districts - suburban areas of Volgograd, the Volga-Ilovlinsky interfluve. The spatial analysis of the rural population dynamics made it possible to distinguish two zones: the western zone, in which the processes of the rural population reduction are the most intense, and the eastern zone, in which, along with a decrease in the population in a number of villages and settlements, its increase is observed.