Editing Valentin Lebedev (section)

===Scientific career===

In the years following his second return from space, Lebedev became renowned as a specialist in the field of cosmonautics and geoinformation.

From 1989 until 1991, Valentin Lebedev worked as deputy director of science at the Institute of Geography AS USSR, completely dedicated to scientific work. At the same time he was acting director of the Geoinformation Center (GIC), which was part of this institute. In 1991 the Geoinformation Center became an independent organization: the Scientific Geoinformation Center of the Russian Academy of Science. Lebedev continued there as its director.

Under V. Lebedev's scientific leadership a unified technology was developed for the creation of maps showing the dynamics of ecosystems. This technology enabled the creation of multilayer maps of natural environments, showing changes over time. These maps were instrumental in the creation of the Ecological Geoinformaion System of the Moscow Automobile Ring Road (Russian: GIS EcoMKAD), which monitored changes in land, surface water, ground water, and flora, due to pollution created by traffic on Moscow's Ring Road.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ngic.ru/ |title=Home |website=ngic.ru}}</ref>

Together with the Hydrometerological Center of Russia and IWP, as part of a federal program on Reviving the Volga River, the RAS created a new technology for predicting spring floods, based on analysis of runoff from snow blankets, the moisture content of soil (frozen during winter months), and the current state of the landscape.

One of the latest scientific projects of Lebedev and his staff, executed within a program called "Science To Moscow", is a work to remotely monitor Moscow transport traffic flow. Using original methods plus high-resolution aerial image digital processing software, the team obtained reliable data about city transport traffic volume, speed and ecological parameters of transport flow. This data became the basis for modifying street traffic and development of an automated traffic management system called "Start".

The GIS EcoMKAD developed green space for Central and Northeastern Moscow districts. It required developments to establish normalized information environment of megapolis and regions. It created the concept of unified geoinformation space for all of Russia.