Transformation of the soil cover representation of Nizhny Novgorod gubernia on maps in the 19th and 20th centuries

Geographic information systems are used to compare soil maps with a scale of 1: 420000, 1: 1000000, and 1: 2500000 constructed for the same territory at different times. It is established which typological units of the soil maps of 1953 and 1988 correspond to the respective units on the maps of 1886 and how the soil classifications were extended and detailed for the studied period. It is shown that the soil map of Nizhny Novgorod gubernia constructed under the supervision of V.V. Dokuchaev is an important and reliable source of information that can be used in scientific research, including comparison with other maps.