The use of GIS technologies in the process of forming collections of spatially distributed data

The article describes a geoinformation solution, an appropriate technology, and a software tool designed for creating an information and retrieval collection of geo-linked photographs with their characteristic data, taken in different years using various methods. The tool was developed in order to systematize and conveniently search for images necessary to assess natural and anthropogenic changes in individual areas of the Crimean Coast within a collection of many thousands of photographs collected over many years of research of the coastal zone by geomorphologists and other specialists, as well as amateur photographers. The collection is expected to include both ancient and unique photographs dating since 1865, as well as modern high-quality quadcopter images obtained as a result of numerous flight missions in the coastal zone of the peninsula specifically to identify changes in the most vulnerable areas of the coast. The software tool assumes the distribution of all images by geomorphologically homogeneous areas, divided by regions and individual parcels. Each image is characterized by a geomorphological coast type and the method of shooting, as well as a set of unique keywords and a possible additional text description with the inclusion of graphs and tables. The tool allows the user to upload images by coordinates, EXIF data, or simply by specifying a point on a highly accurate, scalable map. The created collection can be saved to the separate storage medium and viewed with the same tool on another computer, as well as logically combine both collections. The points on the map are characterized by brief comments, while the collection itself can be viewed by individual regions and sites as a series of thumbnails with the ability to save the selected image to disk. Naturally, the tool includes a traditional automatic image selection system in accordance with the specified criteria and keywords. It was developed for geomorphologists within the framework of the state assignment on the topic “Study of the spatial and temporal variability of oceanological processes in the coastal and shelf zones of the Black Sea under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors based on contact measurements and mathematical modeling”.