Digital soil mapping

Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) in soil science, or "predictive soil mapping", is the computer-assisted production of digital maps of soil type and soil properties. Digital Soil Mapping involves the creation and population of spatial soil information by the use of field and laboratory observational methods coupled with spatial and non-spatial soil inference systems.^{[1] [2]} It applies pedometrics, the use of mathematical and statistical models that combine information from soil observations with information contained in correlated environmental variables and remote sensing images. The international WORKING GROUP ON DIGITAL SOIL MAPPING (WG-DSM) defines "Digital Soil Mapping" as "the creation and the population of a geographically referenced soil databases generated at a given resolution by using field and laboratory observation methods coupled with environmental data through quantitative relationships."

DSM can rely upon, but is distinct from, soil mapping involving manual delineation of soil boundaries by field soil scientists. Digitized and georeferenced soil survey information does not become DSM until the GIS layer is used to derive other soil related information within a GIS or similar information software application.

Digital Soil Mapping makes extensive use of:

1. technological advances, including GPS receivers, field scanners, and remote sensing, and
2. computational advances, including geostatistical interpolation and inference algorithms, GIS, digital elevation model, and data mining

Semi-automated techniques and technologies are used to acquire, process and visualize information on soils and auxiliary information, so that the end result is obtained at cheaper costs. Products are commonly assessed for the accuracy and uncertainty and can be more easily updated when new information comes available.^{[3] [4]}

See also

• Scorpan
• SSURGO

References

1. ^ McBratney and Lagacherie, Global Workshop on Digital Soil Mapping, Montpellier, 2004
2. ^ Rossiter, D. G. (undated). "Global Workshop on Digital Soil Mapping, 14-17 September 2004, Montpellier (F)" (html). International Union of Soil Sciences. http://www.iuss.org/Reports/France%202004.htm. Retrieved 2006-11-01. 
3. ^ McBratney, A.B.; M.L. Mendonça Santos, B. Minasny (1 November 2003). "On digital soil mapping". Geoderma (Elsevier B.V., Amsterdam) 117 (1–2): 3–52. doi:10.1016/S0016-7061(03)00223-4. 
4. ^ Scull, P.; J. Franklin, O.A. Chadwick & D. McArthur (June 2003). "Predictive soil mapping - a review". Progress in Physical Geography (Sage Publications) 27 (2): 171–197. doi:10.1191/0309133303pp366ra. 

External links

• Working group on Digital Soil Mapping
• Pedometrics Commission of the International Union of Soil Sciences
• NRCS Web Soil Survey Inventory of the soil resource across the U.S.
• GlobalSoilMap.net