Data are ESRI Shapefiles, converted from Arc/Info e00 files using the ARCSHAPE command. The Shapefiles are most easily imported into ESRI's ArcView, but most other GIS packages can import ESRI Shapefiles. ESRI also provides a free basic GIS package, ArcExplorer, on the ESRI web site.

Each Shapefile consists of three files: filename.dbf (attribute data), filename.shp (feature geometry) and filename.shx (feature geometry index). In all cases the cover# and cover-id field names were shortened to conform to the 10-character field name width limit for dBase files .dbf.

File names are

ggd600_permbnd_russia.dbf 
ggd600_permbnd_russia.shp
ggd600_permbnd_russia.shx
ggd600_permext_russia.dbf 
ggd600_permext_russia.shp
ggd600_permext_russia.shx 
ggd600_permice_russia.dbf 
ggd600_permice_russia.shp 
ggd600_permice_russia.shx 
ggd600_permtmp_russia.dbf 
ggd600_permtmp_russia.shp 
ggd600_permtmp_russia.shx 

Following is a quick tutorial for defining the projection of this data set in ArcGIS. These steps were tested with ArcGIS 9:

1. Open ArcToolbox. Select Data Management Tools --> Projections and Transformations --> Define Projection.

2. In the Define Projection window, select an input shapefile for the "Input Dataset or Feature Class" field. The "Coordinate System" field now says "Unknown." Click the icon to the right of the "Coordinate System" field.

3. In the Spatial Reference Properties window that appears, click Select to select a predefined coordinate system. Click Projected Coordinate Systems --> Polar. Select North Pole Lambert Azimuthal Equal Area.prj. Click Add.

4. Back in the Spatial Reference Properties window, click Modify. Change the parameters to the following:

False_Easting: 0.0
False_Northing: 0.0
Central_Meridian: 100.0
Latitude_Of_Origin: 45.0

Leave the "Linear Unit" as meters. In the "Geographic Coordinate System" section, click Modify. For "Datum" and "Spheroid" select <custom>. For "Semimajor axis" and "Semiminor axis" enter 6370997.24063. Click OK until the Define Projection wizard runs. The shapefiles are now projected.

Note: the Land Resources of Russia site defines the projection parameters as follows, for those who use the "projectdefine" Arc command:

Projection: Lambert Azimuthal
Units: Meters
Datum: None
Parameters:
6370997.24063 (radius of the sphere of reference)
100 0 0.000 (longitude of center of projection)
45 0 0.000 (latitude of center of projection)
0.00000 (false easting (meters))
0.00000 (false northing (meters))

While all spatial datasets on the "Land Resources of Russia" CD are stored in the Lambert Azimuthal projection, differences occur between the coverages in terms of resolution and scale. In particular, the outer boundary of Russia, islands, and water bodies may vary between data sets.