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 The app now has a cleaner and more modern interface with
GPS-location-based links to access detailed digital soil survey
data (SSURGO) published by the NRCS for most of the United
States. The newly updated SoilWeb smartphone application is
available as a free download on Google Play and Apple App Store.
“SoilWeb reached a new milestone this year when it was
integrated with Google Maps and designed to scale across any
device, desktop, tablet or smart phone,” said NRCS Chief Matthew
Lohr. “SoilWeb app is a portable interface to authoritative
digital soil survey data from NRCS, giving users access to
practical detailed scientific soil information on the go.”
The SoilWeb app provides users with information relating to soil
types that are associated with their location. The images are
then linked to information about the different types of soil
profiles, soil taxonomy, land classification, hydraulic and
erosion ratings and soil suitability ratings. Identifying soil
types is important to understanding land for agricultural
production purposes and determining flooding frequencies and
suitable locations for roads or septic tanks. SoilWeb provides
gardeners, landscapers and realtors with information relating to
soil types and how to optimally use the soil. Although soil
survey information can be used for general farm, local, and
wider area planning, a professional onsite evaluation may be
needed to supplement this information in some cases.
“SoilWeb is a great way to understand the
landscape you live in,” said Anthony O’Geen, UC Davis Professor
and Cooperative Extension Specialist in the Department of Land,
Air and Water Resources. “Producing food, constructing
structures and maintaining landscapes all depend on this little
understood, but critical outermost layer of the earth’s crust,
the soil.”
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The app gives access to valuable scientific data
through modern technology. All the soil information in SoilWeb was
collected from the National Cooperative Soil Survey, organized by
the NRCS, and accesses soil survey information the agency has been
collecting since the 1890s. The resulting database, the largest such
in the world, makes it possible for soil scientists to generate
specialized maps using computer-aided techniques.
O’Geen developed SoilWeb with NRCS Soil Scientist Dylan Beaudette,
in 2010 when Beaudette was a Ph.D. student at UC Davis. The app was
a popular download, but by 2017 was no longer in compliance with
requirements set by Apple and Google. Frequent users of SoilWeb had
to rely on the web-based version from 2017 to June 2019. Any users
with the older version on their phone can do a simple update to
access the newest version. The app is a product of a 14-year
partnership between NRCS and UC Davis College of Land, Air and Water
Resources.
[Paige Buck
Public Affairs Officer
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service] |
