A Compendium of On-Line Soil Survey Information
Soil survey institutes & activities
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A Compendium of On-Line Soil Survey InformationSoil survey institutes & activities |
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This page contains information on institutes that carry out or support soil surveys. Many of these also publish Soil Geographic Databases, which are listed on a separate page in this Compendium.
World
ISRIC is a foundation for documentation, research and training about the soils of the world, with emphasis on developing countries. It is the World Data Center for Soils of the International Council for Science (ICSU), and coordinates the development of the World Reference Base for soil classification.
It is definitely worth a visit to ISRIC to see their:
exposition of about
800 soil monoliths along with information on their formation,
ecology, classification and use. The data is stored in the
ISRIC Soil Information System (ISIS)
and publicised in soil briefs and country reports
which are outstanding examples
of how soil data should be presented.
Even without visiting, you can access their products, including a publications catalog. They are equally well-known for their soil databases such as WISE, SOTER, and ISIS.
Responsible for soil management and soil information projects within FAO.
Consortium under the auspices of the Digital Soil Mapping working group of the IUSS, preparing/executing a new fine-resolution digital soil map of the world.
"[P]rovide[s] a secure home for soil survey reports and maps produced by British companies and surveyors overseas in the last 80 years in 250 countries, with a view to ensuring their enduring availability and protection." Hosted by NSRI. Available by 'pay as you go' or 'subscription'; © stays with the original holder.
Not a soil survey organisation. However, it is the representative of soil science in the international scientific structure. Members of national soil science societies are automatically members of IUSS. The bi-yearly Bulletin is an excellent source of news and excellent book reviews.
Europe
| Scotland (UK) | England & Wales (UK) | Denmark (DK) | Norway (NO) | Russia (RU) |
| Belgium (B) | Netherlands (NL) | Germany (D) | Switzerland (CH) | |
| France (F) | Italy (I) | Romania (RO) |
Europa
"A network of national soil science institutions... located at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, Ispra(I)... its main tasks are to collect, harmonise, organise and distribute soil information for Europe"
Report:
Soil Resources of Europe, 2nd edition
"This volume provides the most comprehensive summary yet attempted of the current position regarding the detail and availability of soil information, particularly spatial data, at national and European levels"
Soil Portal
"[A] virtual place in order to collect all the relevant information regarding soils (at) European level"
A geochemical examination (41 elements!) of agricultural soils from ten Northern European countries surrounding the Baltic Sea (Belarus, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, and Sweden).
Netherlands (NL)
"Het Centrum Bodem vormt ... een strategisch samenwerkingsverband tussen Wageningen Universiteit en Alterra. Het Centrum Bodem bestaat uit vijf leerstoelgroepen van het Departement Omgevingswetenschappen (DOW) en zes onderzoeksteams van de Afdeling Bodem (Alterra). Het Centrum Bodem verricht onderzoek naar fysische, chemische en biologische basisprocessen in en op de bodem."
A cooperative centre of Wageningen University and Alterra. Includes theme "Soil & Landcover", with soils data (via bodemdata.nl) and soils research.
Scotland (UK)
"The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute is an international centre for research and consultancy on the environmental and social consequences of rural land uses. Our interdisciplinary research across the environmental and social sciences aims to support the protection of natural resources, the creation of integrated land use systems, and the development of sustainable rural communities."
This Institute includes the former Soil Survey of Scotland. They have interesting soil survey-related research programmes in sustainable soil management, integrated land use options, management of marginal lands, and integrated catchment management.
They sell soil maps and reports, including a very detailed system for Land Capability Classification for Agriculture and also a system for Forestry.
England & Wales (UK)
"NSRI was newly established in August 2001 in order to create a unified Institute with the necessary scientific expertise and the research capability to focus on the long-term development of the sustainable management of soil and land resources both in the UK and around the world."
This is the successor to the Soil Survey and Land Research Centre (SSLRC), which was established in 1939 as the Soil Survey of England and Wales, neither of which is apparently a sufficiently catchy enough name. They have a series of publications including soil survey maps and reports, and digital datasets may be ordered on-line (all under license, remember Ms Thatcher).
Germany (D)
"Die BGR ist als Fachbehörde des Bundesministeriums für
Wirtschaft und Arbeit die zentrale wissenschaftlich-technische
Institution zur Beratung der Bundesregierung in allen georelevanten
Fragestellungen... Die Aufgaben des sektoralen Aufgabenfeldes Boden
sind im wesentlichen durch den grundsätzlichen Auftrag der BGR
zur Beratung der Bundesregierung, zur Kooperationen mit den
Bundesländern und der Europäischen Union, der Wirtschaft
sowie mit Instituten aus Forschung und Entwicklung begründet."
Includes an interesting project to show pictures and descriptions of the major soil profiles of Europe, in both the German and FAO classification systems. The photos are reasonbly good, about 20k JPEGs.
France (F)
"Créé en 1946 dans le contexte de la reconstruction nationale d'après-guerre et du projet de modernisation de l'agriculture française, l'Inra a accompagné depuis les mutations du monde agricole, des filières alimentaires et des territoires avec l'objectif de répondre aux attentes exprimées par la société, notamment celle de la suffisance alimentaire de la nation."
"Créé en 1944, connu sous le nom d'ORSTOM, l'Institut de recherche pour le développement conduit des programmes scientifiques centrés sur les relations entre l'homme et son environnement dans les pays du Sud, dans l'objectif de contribuer à leur développement."
L'ORSTOM a fait plusiers de cartes pédologiques surtout dans l'Afrique francophone.
Italy (I)
"Una articolazione di ricerca dell´´Istituto Sperimentale per lo Studio e la Difesa del Suolo di Firenze, creata nell´ambito del progetto "Metodologie pedologiche: definizione di criteri e specifiche per la realizzazione, conservazione, aggiornamento e consultazione della carta dei suoli d´Italia in scala 1:250.000"
Associazione Italiana Pedologi
Includes the Soil Wide Web (English): Più di 170 siti per i pedologi! More than 170 soil-related web sites!
Norway (NO)
National mapping agency with responsibility for soils ("jord", cognate to "aard", "erd", "earth" etc.). Includes links to soils data (" jordsmonndata"), maps ("kart"), and mapping methods ("metode").
Russia (RU)
Switzerland (CH)
I could find nothing related to soil survey except a one-paragraph explanation on the importance of soil. Still I think they must be involved somehow.
Denmark (DK)
Romania (RO)
Canada
The main attraction is the collection of profile descriptions, photos, and analytical data illustrating the Great Groups of the Canadian classification system.
USA
The NRCS is responsible for the National (USA) Cooperative Soil Survey, "an effort of Federal and State agencies, universities, and professional societies to deliver scientifically based soil information."
This is the starting point for soils information at the NRCS. include: Soil Survey, Soil Use, Education, Gallery, Classification, Procedures, Research, about the NCSS
Soil Survey
Surveys by state (some with full manuscripts as PDF), Map Unit Information Records, national soil characterization data, soil climate, on-line databases.
"To enhance the National Cooperative Soil Survey through the development and application of appropriate technologies in the production and utilization of soil information". Includes projects for digital soil mapping, the Soil Series Extent viewer, terrain analysis, and modern field acquisition methods.
Standard Procedures
All methods in digital form: the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils, the Soil Survey Manual, the National Soil Survey Handbook, the Lab Methods Manual and much more.
MLRA's are divisions of the USA based on major soil patterns, climate, and land use. All soil surveys in the USA are now correlated within MLRA's.
NESoil.com
"Providing Soil Survey Information for Southeastern Massachusetts+".
Includes the excellent
Soil Survey Update of Plymouth County (MA) pages.
This is how to explain soil survey to the clients!
Includes 1969 survey scanned at high resolution.
From the International Committee on Anthropogenic Soils (ICOMANTH) web site
Mexico, Central America & Caribbean
El INEGI tiene la responsabilidad de integrar los sistemas de información estadística y geográfica de México, además de promover y orientar el desarrollo informático en el país.
South America
"O Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Solos (CNPS), da Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA), antigo Serviço Nacional de Levantamento e Conservação de Solos (SNLCS), é uma instituição de referência tecnológica e metodológica na área de Ciência do Solo, com atribuições de realizar pesquisa básica e aplicada para o conhecimento dos solos brasileiros, sua constituição, propriedades, limitações e potencialidades"
Soils of the Cerrado
A nice summary of the soil geography of this large, important region, organised by the 1999 EMBRAPA soil classiification. Very clear and readable pages, with nice photos, from João Marques and Darrell G. Schulze of Purdue University, now hosted by the Departamento de Ciência do Solo, Universidade Federal de Lavras, Minas Gerais.
by G Moscatelli (Instituto de Suelos INTA) and M S Pazos (Facultad de Agronomía UNICEN, Azul). A nice introduction to this topic. But, to access the link you have to register first.
en la pampa húmeda Argentina; del Ing. Agr. Alnerto Sallies.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Mediterranean Africa and Near East
"Soil resources of Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries" (2001)
Publication 34 from Centre international de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerrané (CIHEAM); includes chapters (PDF, downloadable) on the status of soil survey in Malta, Algeria, Cyprus, Albania, Morocco, Egypt, Jordon, Apulia, Lebanon, Palestine, Gaza, Syria, Tunisia, and Turkey.
South, Central, & East Asia
Responsible for soil survey and soils geographical data in the PRC.
NBSSLUP is charged with making agricultural and pedological soil surveys. They are digitising 1:50K soil survey sheets; unfortunately none of this appears to be available on-line. Part of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
A classic example of bureaucratic duplication of effort. The DoS has a major project called Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development (explained here), which includes soil mapping. Some of this work is done by Indian Resources Information & Management Technologies Ltd. under contract.
Very active in soil survey and soil databases, largely thanks to the King's vision of sustainable development which is based on the soil resource.
A nice introduction to the concepts of soil classification applied to interpretations, by Goro Uehara, Hank Ikawa and Nguyen Hue, from the Department of Tropical Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Hawai'i. Also has some nice maps and pictures of Hawaiian soils.
Australia & New Zealand; Pacific Islands
This includes the former Division of Soils. They have several soil survey-related research projects under various research themes, but unfortunately soil survey as such seems to have lost its identity in the "client centred" approach. All research reports are available on-line.
Their main objective is to set national standards for all aspects of land resource assessment. However they have some soil survey information, including an on-line version of the Australian Soil Classification, a Network of (Australian) Soil Reference Sites, and coordinate the Australian Soil Resource Information System (ASRIS).
One of their products is the Digital Atlas of Australian Soils.
"New Zealand's foremost environmental research organisation", responsible for soil survey and soil databases.
| Author: David G. Rossiter |
URL:
http://www.itc.nl/~rossiter/research/rsrch_ss_sources.html
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| E-Mail: rossiter@itc.nl | Last Updated: 2010_010 |
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