Land consolidation is an important stage for agriculture and rural development. During the land reform, parcels of irrational size and shape were formed, which became difficult to cultivate efficiently. In essence, land consolidation projects must primarily be developed in areas with large, viable farms, and land parcels forming land holdings are not compact, distant from each other and from centres. Land consolidation projects have been under development for many years, but it is appropriate to pay attention to the expediency of implemented projects. Land consolidation goals and procedures vary from country to country, as the development of this procedure in each country is determined by historical trends, culture, traditions and land consolidation legislation. Many of those who have analysed this topic emphasize the need for consolidation, but it is very important that landowners understand the importance of this process and make sure of its opportunities and benefits. Land consolidation must be designed so that the benefits of the project are higher than the results of the conversion works before the project. The purpose of this article is to compare land consolidation projects which were prepared in different areas of Lithuania. Two objects of the research in which land consolidation projects had been carried out and implemented in 2013 were selected, where the number of sites in units decreased: 41.8% in one project and 28% in the other. Changes in parcel configuration were also noticeable, when in one of the projects analysed even 92 per cent of land parcels have become regular − close to rectangular − shapes. The average size of land parcels in this project increased from 5.32 ha to 9.14 ha.

The average land productivity score is about 41.8 in the Republic of Lithuania. However, in separate regions it ranges from 30.5 to 55.1. The research object is agricultural utilities in rural municipalities of the Republic of Lithuania. The analysis of land use plan fragments in the selected areas shows that land is abandoned mostly in land areas where non-productive land or hilly relief prevails. Having improved conditions of land use, about 44 % of abandoned agricultural utilities can be transferred into intensive farming.

The article presents the analysis of the current situation of the forest area in Alytus and Vilnius Counties. Comparative, analytical as well as statistical and logical analysis methods were used for the investigation. The aim of the investigation is to carry out the analysis of the Alytus and Vilnius Counties forest area during the period between the years 2006 and 2018. The object of the investigation – Alytus and Vilnius Counties forest area. Tasks of the investigation: 1. To describe the status quo of forest in Alytus and Vilnius Counties. 2. To analyze and compare the forest area change in Alytus and Vilnius counties during the period between the years 2006 and 2018. The study found that forests prevailing in Alytus and Vilnius Counties are 50–59 years old. It was determined that pine trees prevail in Alytus County (71.05 percent) and in Vilnius County (16.38 percent) as well. The type of ownership prevailing in both Alytus and Vilnius counties is the forests of state significance managed by forest enterprises, national parks and state reserves. In Alytus County, during the period between the years 2006 and 2018, the forest area decreased by 4123.16 ha or 1.55 percent, in Vilnius County increased by 9593.16 ha or 2,35 percent.

The systemized and methodically arranged according to the principles of geographic information systems set of the most important objects of Lithuanian territory’s geodetic base and topographic databases (GDR10LT) is collected and kept in data storage and covers the whole territory of Lithuania. The purpose of the georeferential base GDR10LT at the scale 1:10 000 is to collect, keep, use, renew and provide data to users. The literature analysis shows that the majority of authors presented studies about data composition and application but they did not analyse their reliability. The aim of the research was to revise the chosen territory of the georeferential base map by the field method and to determine the discrepancies between the situation in the area and in the map as well as the reasons of such discrepancies. It was necessary to verify the data reliability and outdated map information due to changes of the situation. The field research was conducted in three different areas, and the data was processed using tools provided by www.zis.lt. Statistical data analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel software. The object of the research was information depicted in georeferential base map (GDR10LT) of the chosen territories. The following research methods were used: literature analysis, analysis of cartography material, collation of field data, statistical data processing, and interviews. The conclusion can be made that GDR10LT data are reliable; two mistakes were found in the plot of 6407.5 hectares: a navigational obstacle and 800 metres of asphalt cover were not marked. Other determined discrepancies covered the territory of 17.46 hectares. The outdated map information was found. The marking of settlements generally were mismatched because of many new buildings in the area that were not mapped. Therefore GDR10LT should be updated more often in accordance with ORT10LT data.

Development and management of green area systems is important to both the environment and a person. It bears social, economic, and ecological significance. This system must comply with principles of sustainable spatial development. Therefore, well-developed systems of green areas must become the basic aim of all cities. Marijampolė, the seventh biggest city of Lithuania was selected as the research object. In the article the system of Marijampolė city green areas is analysed. Two surveys, which included questionnaires, were conducted, i.e. city inhabitants and territory-planning and management specialists were interviewed. It was identified that the system of Marijampolė green areas is not balanced and there are enough green areas only in part. However, the current parks, squares and other green spaces do not ensure full-fledged citizens’ life. Marijampolė lacks equipped, applied to various activities local green areas for different age groups of the community, the development and maintenance of which must primarily be the inhabitants’ concern.

The aim of the article is to assess tourism and recreation resources and possibilities of their development in the selected areas in Kretinga, Trakai and Kaunas district municipalities. Natural and separate zones’ landscape complexes in Lithuania are favourable for recreation and tourism. Although Lithuania’s territory in comparison with other countries is not large, it is characterized by a huge variety of geographical complexes and landscapes. By recreational potential Lithuania surpasses even numerous European countries, which are arranged along the northern coastline. Rivers, lakes and forests constitute 25 % of the total Lithuania’s area. Forests, parks, sea, other water reserves, geomorphological structures are aesthetically valuable landscape complexes in the Republic of Lithuania and make up one third of the total area. Having conducted assessment of the landscape in the selected territories and analysed territory-planning documents of Kretinga, Kaunas and Trakai municipalities with regard to recreation and tourism, it has been identified that although the main kind of recreational activity in the analysed municipalities is educational recreation, tourism infrastructure is not sufficiently developed and there is a shortage of accommodation-providing companies. After assessment of the landscape in recreational objects, it has been noticed that the assessed objects are characterized by high spatial flora variety, prevailing greenery and plants. In addition, landscapes are varied and not fully adjusted to recreation and tourism.

The aim of the article is to analyse the land use of selected areas and its impact on the ecological condition of the area. 3 (Ignalina, Molėtai and Zarasai) from 15 districts (which are characterized by considerable forest cover and exceptional recreational characteristics) of Lithuania were selected as the object of research. The largest part of the area of these districts (44–57%) consists of agricultural areas; a slightly smaller area (32–42%) is occupied by forests and other natural areas. Artificial covers occupy from 8 to 11 percent of the total area of districts. Analysing the change of these land cover areas over a period of 12 years, a practically stable (4-6%) decrease of agricultural areas and growth of forests and other natural areas (3–5%) as well as artificial covers (1%) in all three municipalities are observed. Taking into account the prevailing land cover structure in the districts in 2018, the estimated degree of polarization of all districts/ecological stability indicator of the area exceeded 0.67, i.e., areas have been found to be ecologically stable. However, after assessing the ecological stability of the surveyed areas using a multi-criteria analysis method and introducing more criteria influencing the ecological condition of the area, not only the land cover structure, it was found that the ecological condition of Molėtai district is still the worst according to the ranking indicators, while that of Zarasai and Ignalina districts is very similar. Such a negative multi-criteria assessment of the ecological condition of Molėtai district was influenced by all criteria: lower area of protected and natural territories, forests in the district, higher population density, road length, area of artificial covers and emissions (carbon monoxides, nitrogen oxides, etc.) quantity. Meanwhile, when assessing the ecological condition of Ignalina district, 4 criteria were favourable, namely: relatively low population density, road length, and lower emissions of gases and liquids, carbon monoxide, and for Zarasai district 7 criteria: higher areas of protected territories, forests and other natural, agricultural areas as well as artificial cover areas and lower population density, emissions of nitrogen oxides, gaseous and liquid substances. The results of the study unambiguously revealed that the ecological stability of the territory is influenced not only by the land use structure, but also by other environmental elements related to the area, therefore for full sustainable development, it is necessary to responsibly assess all possible factors influencing the ecological condition of the area.

According to the official statistics the areas of abandoned agricultural land in Lithuania are gradually decreasing, but very slightly. The aim of this study is to research spatial determination and abandoned land classification in the territory of Vilnius District Municipality. Vilnius District Municipality was chosen for the research because it, although located near the capital of the country and has a high population density, it is still the district having the largest percent of abandoned land plots. A fast, cost-effective and sufficiently accurate method for determination of abandoned land plots would allow to constantly monitoring, to fix changes and foresee the abandoned land plots reduction possibilities. In the study there was used the multispectral RGB and NIR colour Sentinel-2 satellite images, the layer of the administrative boundary of Vilnius County and layer of abandoned agriculture land, which is available in Lithuanian Spatial Information Portal (www.geoportal.lt). The data was processed by Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques using classical classification Region Growing Algorithm. The research shows that NIR image classification result is more reliable than the result from RGB images.

Railway tracks require more thorough maintenance and analysis than regular roads for cars. Defects are here noticed and recorded by using special equipment. Construction of railway roads and their exploitation requires optimal accuracy and monitoring of surveying. It is related to maximum allowed speed of trains, the environment, transport and human safety. In order to highlight complex problems of railway road exploitation, the evaluation of railway roads was conducted. Problem areas of railway maintenance were identified. Their monitoring needs to be improved by applying geodetic devices for surveying. Comparing analogous surveying conducted using EM140 machine with that of geodetic equipment, one can see the advantage of geodetic surveying. Technical gaps in the surveying process, data storage and procession were evaluated as well. It was discovered that maintenance and monitoring works should be pursued more frequently using high accuracy geodetic equipment.

The article presents the analysis of the change of land users in the Republic of Lithuania during the period between 1919 and 1940. The main factor affecting the relationship of land and its use was the political changes in the country, whereas economic and social aspects had less influence. During the period between 1919 and 1939 the land reform of independent Lithuania not only strengthened the country's agriculture, but also laid the foundations for the entire nation-state, it was one of the most significant achievements of independence, a real agrarian revolution, which intensified the land use. The main goal of the land reform was to alienate and distribute the state land and the land of large estates to peasants and to complete distribution of village land into individual farmsteads. Landlords were left inalienable 80 hectares (later 150 ha) of land area. The land from the State Land Fund was distributed to volunteers and new settlers (the landless) peasants up to 8-10 ha, to estate workers and rural craftsmen – up to 1.5-2 ha, as well as to poor peasants, state enterprises, farms and forestries, etc.