Data specifications and information structures for soils data GSP Meeting Rome 22 March 2012

Stephen Hallett and Daniel Simms National Soil Resources Institute Cranfield University

Landis.org.uk

Rationalisation and harmonisation of soil legacy data

(Jack Hannam)

Digital soil assessment for class and property information

(Thomas Mayr)

Soil information systems meeting stakeholder requirements

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

Landis.org.uk

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

Why data specifications are important

1. Permit inter-comparison and collation of datasets

2. Eases Interoperability between scales & data domains

3. Component-based development => ‘plug and play’

4. Loose-coupling of applications / Mashups

5. Service-oriented architectures (SOA)

6. Evolution of supporting tools, processors and

exchange mechanisms to work with standardised data

Standards add a ‘discipline’ to our data

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

We live in interesting times for evolution of soil data!

• Mature national soil and thematic information projects

• Concluding EU-projects e-SOTER, GS-Soil & iSoil

• Initiatives: Harmonised World Soil Database (HWSD),

GlobalSoilMap.net & the Global Soil Partnership

• Work of ISO/TC 190/SC 1/WG3 [ISO/CD 28258]

• Work of IUSS WG Soils, ESBN WG and ESDAC

• Work of ‘Data Specification INSPIRE Soil’ TWG

and other schemas – GeoSciML, Borehole ML etc…

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

Data Specification INSPIRE Soil

• Of particular importance for env. data exchange

• driven by INSPIRE compliance and GEOSS

• About to produce final specification v3.0

• Currently v2.9 under testing and review

• Core model and two reference extensions

• Close liaison with other TWGs

• Promotes WRB and FAO notations

• Incorporates Soil type, texture, AWC, SOC … Concluding 2 years of work!! http://inspire.jrc.ec.europa.eu/index.cfm/pageid/201/consultation/45851

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

Soils Data - For Who and For What??

this drives the database

• Soil mapping, enabling the identification of areas of

land for optimal management purposes.

• Soil inventories, providing soil condition assessment

of soil conditions, and soil monitoring, providing

assessments showing soil conditions varying in time.

• Soil thematic mapping providing for policy-relevant

maps for soil protection and environmental reporting.

INSPIRE Data Specification on soil

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

How will Soils Information be applied?

• Land-related issues through EU to globally:

Food/Water security Soil functions and services

Contamination Stocks and levels monitoring

Soil threats Land use capabilities

Land suitability Biodiversity mapping

Climate impacts CAP reform/ALC/EFA

Geohazards MDG & BMGF goals

• Agricultural to Environmental to Industrial

• Context: INSPIRE, TCS, FD Soil, & GEOSS

Farm

scale

Regional

Global

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

Key information structures

• Vector Spatial data (geometry, CRS, datum)

• Raster and Gridded data (RS, model outputs, novel

sensors, indicative confidence

• Attribute data (types, complexes)

• Semantic relationships (relational)

• Topological relationships (relative position)

• Rules (methods, SQL/stored procedures)

• Metadata (from discovery to entity level)

OOPS!

Simple vs complex objects

UML

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

Accessing Soils Information

• Standalone Applications, giving way to…

• Web Services component-based SOA

• REST, WSDL, SOAP, UDDI

• Allowing ‘Mashups’

• Internet data XML Schemas: GML + grammar

• Move from PC to new platforms;

• Integration of other technologies GSM; GPS

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

SMIS Components

• Databases, GIS, 4GL tools, Statistical tools

• No ‘one’ panacea tool!

• Internet infrastructure

• Free and Open-Source GIS - ‘FOSSGIS’

• Semantic Transformations

• Pedo- and Taxon-transfer functions

• Schematic Transformations

• XSLT, parsers, convertors

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

Trends

• Move from exactitudes to probabilistic properties

• As with other domains, eg. climate change

• Statistical representation, confidence estimates

• Information access tools for BIG data

• 2D -> 3D (voxels?), data mining & inference tools

• Digital Soil Assessment - a powerful, established tool

• Continuous not discrete data outputs

• Legacy data incorporation, stored function inputs

• Pedologists remain essential to process!!

Data to Information to Knowledge

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

England and Wales

LandIS – Land Information System, UK 300+ county, regional and national publications & maps

250k Auger bore cards; 8,000 Soil Profile pits

Legacy soil record cards; 15k field sheets E&W

NSI recording cards for monitoring purposes

Data specifications and information structures for soils data JOSCIS – Jordanian Soil and Climatic

Information System Arose from Jordanian determination to decrease

dependence on imported food and to manage water

resources sustainably.

Hunting Technical Services Ltd.

Data specifications and information structures for soils data Libyan Soil Information System – LibyaSIS

Assessment of land evaluation methodologies to

select /adapt suitable methods to suit optimal

Libyan agricultural policy

Soil Erodibility ‘K’, NE. Libya

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

Maltese Soil Information System – MALSIS Record of gridded site physical soil properties and

linked laboratory chemical property data. 330 pts

Plus:

Soil chemico-physical properties: particle

size distribution, pH, EC (1:2), OM

Soil fertility: N, P, K, Ca, Mg, SO42-

Soil salinity: EC, Cl, NO3-, SAR

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

Irish Soil

Information System

– ISIS INSPIRE-driven Digital

Soil Assessment,

backed by field auger

bores, with soil

representative profiles

recording physical soil

properties and linked

laboratory chemical

property data. 1000’s

of points

Auger data

Profile data

Lab data

DSM data

Map data

Metadata

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

Incorporating

Pedotransfer Rules

Application: Arable Suitability

Soil Spatial Database

Soil Profile Database

Pedotransfer Rules Database

Data specifications and information structures for soils data

Soil Functions mapping

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Data specifications and information structures for soils data

• Challenge is to draw together the many excellent

initiatives for soil data codification and exchange

GSP is an excellent context in which to do so

• Adoption of established techniques of Digital Soil

Assessment and integration of output data in a

new generation of applications tools

• Application of practical, user-driven methods to

transform Soil Data to Information to Knowledge

SMIS Knowledge

Digital Soil Assessment

Legacy Soil Information

Pedologist

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Thank you