The Use of Public Information Technologies in Protection of Environmental Rights and Rights to Natural Resources

The paper concludes that there is a lack of uniform judicial practice concerning the use of free geoinformation systems and cartographic services based on high-resolution satellite images in the field of protection of environmental rights and rights to natural resources.

The author has defined additional criteria of relevance and reliability of public satellite images and parts of digital maps when they are used as evidence in the category of cases under consideration. Additional criteria for the relevance of such evidence should include: (1) the existence of geographical coordinates or their independent georeferencing and gridding by means of an existing or other program when compared with other images or digital maps; 2) indication of the date of shooting; 3) quality (clarity, high resolution, absence of clouds, fog and other visual “obstacles”), which allows us to “read” satellite image and parts of the digital map.

An additional criterion for the credibility of such evidence should include the possibility of “double” verification. First, one needs verifying that the printout or screenshot of a page of the Internet site containing an image of a public satellite image or a part of a digital map correspond to the satellite image itself or a part of a digital map using the specified date, geographic coordinates, and scale. Second, one needs verifying that the information about circumstances recorded in public satellite images and parts of digital maps corresponds to the actual circumstances. In law enforcement, approaches contrary to screenshots of pages of Internet sites used as evidence have been determined. It is shown that the additional criterion of evidentiary relevance of screenshots in cases under consideration is characterized as sufficient.

1. Golubtsov VG. Elektronnye dokazatelstva v kontekste elektronnogo pravosudiya [Electronic evidence in the context of electronic justice]. Herald of Civil Procedure. 2019;1:170—188. (In Russ.)

2. Treushnikov MK, editor. Grazhdanskiy protsess: uchebnik [Civil process: A textbook]. 2nd ed. Moscow: Gorodets; 2007. (In Russ.)

3. Luneva EV. Ispolzovanie litsenzionnykh geoinformatsionnykh sistem v zashchite ekologicheskikh prav i prav na prirodnye resursy [The use of license geoinformation systems in protection of environmental rights and rights to natural resources]. Environmental Law. 2020;2:20—26. (In Russ.)

4. Nikiforov AA, Mironova SI. Tekhnogennaya transformatsiya landshaftov zapadnoy Yakutii [Technogenic transformation of landscapes of western Yakutia]. The Education and Science Journal. 2016; 2(82):140—145. (In Russ.)

5. Pugachev NA. Distantsionnyy monitoring garey i vyrubok v prigorodnykh lesakh Tveri [Remote monitoring of burns and felling in suburban forests of Tver]. In: Geography, Ecology, Tourism: Scientific Research of Students and Postgraduates: Proceedings of 7th All-Russian Scientific-Practical Conference. Tver; 2019. (In Russ.)

6. Sapozhnikov PM, Stolbovoy VS. Metodologiya sozdaniya informatsionnogo resursa dlya tseley otsenki, kontrolya i monitoringa sostoyaniya zemel selskokhozyaystvennogo naznacheniya [Methodology of creating an information resource for the purposes of assessment, control and monitoring of agricultural land condition]. Imushchestvennye otnosheniya v Rossiyskoy Federatsii. 2012;10:82—91. (In Russ.)

7. Fokina MA. Dokazatelstvennoe pravo v tsivilisticheskom protsesse: nerealizovannye vozmozhnosti [Evidentiary Law in the Civilistic Process: Unrealized Opportunities]. Herald of Civil Procedure. 2019;1:29—46. (In Russ.)

8. Cherenkov AYu, Grekov OA. Ispolzovanie professionalnykh programm google earth pro i «sas.planeta» pri obrabotke materialov, poluchennykh metodom bespilotnogo aviatsionnogo ucheta [The use of professional programs Google Earth Pro and “Sas.Planeta” in the processing of data obtained by unmanned aviation accounting]. Vestnik okhotovedeniya. 201;12(1):79—83. (In Russ.)

9. Conesa FC, Madella M, Balbo AL, Galiatsatos N, Rajesh SV, Ajithprasad P. Corona Photographs in Monsoonal Semi-Arid Environments: Addressing Archaeological Surveys and Historic Landscape Dynamics over North Gujarat, India. Archaeological Prospection. 2015;22(2):75—90. (In Russ.)