Pilot program for spatial planning to be launched in Kiev region - U.S. Agency for International Development

MOSCOW. June 9 (Interfax) - Members of the community of spatial planners, surveyors and cartographers have expressed readiness to combine efforts in terms of mapping and spatial planning with the help of drones and will launch a pilot project in the Kiev region on the basis of the Belogorod rural territorial hromada (municipality) in the Bucha district, Ukrainian media reported citing the press service for USAID Agro Ukraine.

There are 370 properties that require renovation in the Belogorod municipality, including 36 industrial facilities. "In order to restore and efficiently use the existing resources, the hromada needs a comprehensive spatial development plan," Chief Specialist at the Urban Development, Architecture and Construction Department of the Belogorod Rural Council Olga Krasnolutskaya said during an online presentation of spatial planning requirements and potential, the media said.

Representatives of the Association of Land Management Specialists of Ukraine, the Association of Certified Land Surveyors of Ukraine and Culver Aviation, a company, attended the online event to express readiness to help the Belogorod municipality and signed a memorandum of cooperation, which is expected to reduce the cost of orthophoto by 20%, according to the media.

As part of such cooperation, spatial planning documentation will be designed on an updated mapping basis to reflect the actual state of the area. Unmanned aerial vehicles and modern spatial planning tools will be used to update the map data.

"The outdated cartographic basis is one of the key factors hampering the development of spatial planning of the territories of hromadas in Ukraine," USAID said.

According to a survey conducted by the All-Ukrainian Association of Hromadas, the cartographic basis needs to be updated in 91% of Ukrainian municipalities.