Forest and rural development assessment over a period of 200 years: a case study in the South Moravian region.

Historical maps are useful sources of geographical information for territorial research. The optimal distribution of the rural road network is a crucial tool for forestry and agricultural land management. This study provides a general framework for the assessment of the rural road network density and distribution in terms of historical development. The derived knowledge can be applied in the planning of the landscape in order to implement the study findings. For the study, a part of the hydrographic basin of the Svitava River (Blansko district, The South Moravian Region, Czech Republic) was selected. The examination of road distribution dynamics on the historical cartography over a period of almost 300 years was conducted. The basin map was created in ArcGIS software and the single map layers from the 2nd military mapping in years 1836 - 1852, as well as the topography mapping in 1952 and 2020 were used for comparison. Vector layers of the rural road network and borders of the area were created for the evaluation of their density and distribution. Macro analysis of the area identified that the density of the rural road network mostly increased in the period between 1952 - 2020.