Digital Soil Mapping in soil science

Soil science

Soil science is the study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the earth including soil formation, classification and mapping; physical, chemical, biological, and fertility properties of soils; and these properties in relation to the use and management of soils.Sometimes terms which...

, or "predictive soil mapping", is the computer-assisted production of digital maps of soil type

Soil type

In terms of soil texture, soil type usually refers to the different sizes of mineral particles in a particular sample. Soil is made up in part of finely ground rock particles, grouped according to size as sand, silt and clay...

 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 system

Soil inference system

Inference is a process of deriving logical conclusion from the basis of empirical evidence and prior knowledge rather than on the basis of direct observation. Soil Inference System is the term proposed by McBratney et al. as a knowledge base to infer soil properties and populate the digital soil...

s. It applies pedometrics

Pedometrics

Pedometrics is the application of mathematical and statistical methods for the study of the distribution and genesis of soils.Pedometrics is a neologism derived from the Greek roots pedos, soil and, metron, measurement...

, the use of mathematical and statistical models that combine information from soil observations with information contained in correlated environmental variables and remote sensing

Remote sensing

Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon, without making physical contact with the object. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the use of aerial sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on Earth by means of propagated signals 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

Soil survey

Soil survey, or soil mapping, is the process of classifying soil types and other soil properties in a given area and geo-encoding such information. It applies the principles of soil science, and draws heavily from geomorphology, theories of soil formation, physical geography, and analysis of...

 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
   Global Positioning System
   The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
   
    receivers, field scanners, and remote sensing
   Remote sensing
   Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon, without making physical contact with the object. In modern usage, the term generally refers to the use of aerial sensor technologies to detect and classify objects on Earth by means of propagated signals Remote sensing...
   
   , and
2. computational advances, including geostatistical interpolation and inference algorithms, GIS
   Geographic Information System
   A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...
   
   , digital elevation model
   Digital elevation model
   A digital elevation model is a digital model or 3-D representation of a terrain's surface — commonly for a planet , moon, or asteroid — created from terrain elevation data....
   
   , and data mining
   Data mining
   Data mining , a relatively young and interdisciplinary field of computer science is the process of discovering new patterns from large data sets involving methods at the intersection of artificial intelligence, machine learning, statistics and database systems...
   
   

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.

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