ИСТИНА

Among the priorities of socio-economic development of mountain regions and attraction of private investments is development of tourism. In this sphere priorities are: preservation and popularization of cultural heritage of the region; expansion of access of wide layers of population to the best samples of domestic and foreign culture and art, to information resources of libraries, including by development of information technologies. In addition to the positive effect of tourism development there is a negative side of this issue - increased pressure on ecosystems. Wastes and uncontrolled tourist trails are one of the main problems. It is proved that tourism is one of possible applications of geoinformation technologies and remote sensing. Most often geoinformation systems are used for preparation of tourist maps, booklets and other printed products containing maps and schemes. At the same time for the areas having unique natural potential or having historic and cultural meaning it is necessary to have regular remote monitoring, which helps to solve the following tasks: - registration of natural and historical and cultural monuments of the territory; - registration of tourist routes; - analysis of the tourist flows; - analysis of the negative impact on the territory; - territory development planning. On the basis of remote sensing data and collection of open spatial data, a study of recreational pressure and mapping of uncontrolled tourist trails on natural sites in Armenia was conducted. The use of ultra-high spatial resolution data allowed identifying the entire road and trail network, which have not been mapped before.