Ricardo-AEA
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www.ricardo-aea.com
Willie Towers, Xingyu Xiao, Stuart Sneddon and many many others
Scotland’s Soils Website
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Aim and Objectives
• To develop and test a pilot Scottish soils website (SSDW) with a small group of public bodies in Scotland.
• The project had several steps:• Design a pilot website and populate with a small number of datasets• Hold a stakeholder workshop, analyse the feedback and upgrade site accordingly
(within reason….)• Establish a User Group to test upgraded version of the site• Convene a User Group meeting, share experiences and prioritise upgrades (within
reason….)• Produce enhanced website
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Groups involved in the project
• Steering Group: Scottish Government, SEPA, SNH, Forestry Commission Scotland, Ricardo-AEA and Macaulay Scientific Consulting
• Editorial Group: Representatives from SEPA, SNH, Macaulay Scientific Consulting and Ricardo-AEA
• User Group: Range of Stakeholders representing regulators, industry, consultancy, academia, government and NGOs
Discussions were also held with various potential data providers
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Website: First draft
• Two datasets agreed with Steering Group:– 1:250,000 national scale soil map
• Underpinned by the Scottish Soils Knowledge and Information Base (SSKIB)
– National Soils Inventory• A grid based point sample across
Scotland, a key component of the full Scottish Soil Database
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1:250 000 Soil map Soil map legend
Association Map unit Series % code
Perterhead 429 Blackhouse 100 61004
430 Peterhead 100 61006
Rowanhill etc 444 Macmerry 50 71015
Caprington 50 71004
445 Caprington 100 71004
SERIES HORIZON DEPTH pH CARBON SUM BASES
Caprington Ap 28 6.1 3.8 14.4
Bg 50 6.2 1 10.8
BCg 70 6.1 0.9 12.6
Cg 100 6.2 0.96 13.6
Information(median or mean etc)Knowledge
• For both cultivated and semi-natural soils• ≈2500 horizons• ≈ 530 soil Series• Statistical summaries• Use of analogues where data missing
mssg
Association
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Profile name:Grid reference: Surveyor: Sample date:Altitude:Slope description:Aspect & bearing:Rocks and boulders:Vegetation:Flushing:Site drainage:Soil drainage:Erosion:Association/ Series: Parent material:Major soil subgroup:Rock type:Climate:Land Capability AgricultureBase of pit:Bulk samples:
Scottish soil database:Each soil profile has up to 100 attributes
LABNOSYMBOLLOSS ON IGNITIONCALCIUMMAGNESIUMSODIUMPOTASSIUMHYDROGENSUMSATNpHCARBONNITROGENOMTOTPACET_PTOPBOTTOMSANDSILTCLAY
SYMBOLDEPTH COLOUR MOTTLES TEXTURE STRUCTURE MOISTURE CONSISTENCE ROOTS STONES BOUNDARY
Ap
Bs
C
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Stakeholder workshop – February 2013
• Objectives:• Introduction to the website• Identify potential user expectations• Identify potential additional datasets.
• Around 40 delegates from various constituencies• A number of presentations including three from potential/actual users with varying levels
of background knowledge in soils and uses of the data• Consultancy• Local Authority• Central Scotland Forest Trust
• 4 breakout groups and a structured questionnaire for completion later
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Stakeholder workshop – February 2013
• Key themes– Different users preferred different
scales of data dependent on need– Many users preferred themed or
derived maps, not raw data– Range of functions requested;
download, options for searching….
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Stakeholder workshop – February 2013
• Need for information about the data at different levels; metadata, descriptions, glossary
• Structure straightforward and easy to navigate
• Contextual information• Site not just about data• How much do people want to
know about soil?• Varied across different types of
user
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Next phase of development – our Response
• Additional datasets prioritised by Steering Group and added• a. Topsoil Organic Carbon Content• b. Available Water Capacity• c. Land Capability for Agriculture (1:250,000)• d. Soil Texture (for differentiating within NVZs) • e. World Reference Base (WRB) classification• f. Soil carbon richness map (from SNH)
• Additional functions added• Search by National Grid Reference or Postcode• Use OS backdrop rather than Bing
• Contextual data radically restructured around State of Soil reporting• We tried to tell a more coherent ‘story’
• Glossary, FAQs and Library populated with examples to prompt reaction • User Group established
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• Status of Scotland’s soil– Key facts– Soil functions– Soils and ecosystems– Soil protection and policy
• What are the issues?– Threats to soils– Pressures on soil– Prospects for Scotland’s soil
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Website User Group
• Established based on volunteers from workshop questionnaire and tapping into networks
• Good cross-section from across potential user groups
• Tested site over summer 2013 and Group met in late August
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User group – examples of feedback and actions taken
So the site had developed considerably since conception to birth, and like all websites, is a work in progress
Website pages Main themes of feedback Actions takenGeneral comments ‘Nice and simple, clean, easy
to navigate through, slightly old fashioned’.
Structure determined by SEWeb design and retained.
Language and terminology ‘Recognise the difficulty and I can live with it’
Different versions of some material e.g. classification and data descriptions
Data Requests for a range of other datasets, including single attribute maps/plots
Discussed with Steering Group, additional datasets prioritised and added to website
Functionality Map overlay, additional search facilities, location marker, data download….
Implemented according to priorities and resources
Glossary Additional terms suggested. New terms added and defined: we welcome more
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Web design and structure
• A daughter website to Scotland’s environment – So required a similar feel to it– Style Guide provided by Scotland’s environment development team
So over to Stuart…..
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• Information analysis of user groups and stakeholders of the website and their needs
• Website design to meet the needs
• Development of the future proof IT solution of environmental data management system
Environmental data management solution
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Policy maker
General public?
AcademicSoil
scientist Farmer
Environmental organisations PlannerStudent
User groups of the soil website and their needs
The soils of Scotland are an important national resource and the properties and distributionof different soil types across the country provides essential information to a wide range ofstakeholders
Data
Information
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• Information about soil– Reports– Relevant resources– What public could be involved– Soil types– Soil physical and chemical properties– Soil organic matter– Links to information about soil in rest of
world– trends, spatial information– Etc…..
• Data – Of a location, area– Data in different format:
• in tables• csv, • shape files, • web feature services
• Maps– Interactive soil maps– Images– Web map services
Needs for information from user groups
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Needs of data by remote system
– The website is a daughter website of SEWeb
– The data needs to be managed locally and accessible remotely by other system.
– The service of the data needs to be standard compliant.
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Stakeholder of the website and their needs
• Data providers– Enable user to access and use the data in a
scientific manner • Academic/Educational users
– Carry out the study and publish their research findings
• Scientific community– Access the information and identify potential
new data source • Environmental portal designers(SEWEB)
– Interoperability between the database component of Scotland’s Soils Website and SEWEB
Scottish Government • Support all the stake holders• Evidence based
policy making• Information transparency policy
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SEWeb
Scotland’s Soils Website
Data from MSC/SNH/FSC
Directly access data from BGS
3rd Party provide
datasets by WMS, or WFS
Air website
AQ data providers
Water website
System architecture – hybrid of portal data and distributed management system
Store Key data sets in SS
database
WSM/WFS
Interactive with SEWeb via simplified WMS
Type 1: User access data via SSDW Type 2: User access data from source website
The data sets in Type 2 can be moved to Type 1 either loaded to the SSDW database or made it accessible for SSDW in WMS/WFS in the future
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Illustration of the database structure of the Scottish Soil website and codes lists
Database table Description Supporting website functionweb map Store navigation items and structure,
metadata of the pagenavigation
web network content Store link the navigation item to its content Access static contentWeb content Store content of each page contentNSIS codes/ soil codes Code lists for NSIS and 1:250,000 soil map Mapping dataSoil group Soil classification Content
Database table Description Supporting website functionuser User account for admin area User controlroles User role type Set user with different level of access to admin
areaRole type Store content of each page Different level of access to admin areaFunction/security Code lists for NSIS and 1:25,0000 soil map Control user access to the admin functionUser auth log User log Monitoring activityData user User details of data download User details of data downloadPostcode location Postcode and spatial location Data searchDocuments News or report details Manage news and reportsDocument category/file type Classification of report Control where the report display on the web page
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22
System design
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Simple user register Confirm the T&SDownload data
stored on SSDD or service provider
Workflow of data download for data type 1
User view the signpost
Divert to 3rd party data access location
Download data from the location and local
T&S
Workflow of data download for data type 2
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Website front end design
http://www.soils-scotland.gov.uk/
• Structure the website according to most user’s needs
• The summary information available at top level, detailed and deeper information available as links
• User data visualisation whenever it is possible
• Offer different data access options
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Site launched December 10th 2013
• A larger and more coherent website
• A more logical and clearer tab structure
• More internal and external links
• But we want it to be used and we welcome feedback
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Potential future developments?• Additional datasets
– site was designed around three basic types of data: soil maps, point data and derived data so that additions could be made• 1:25,000 scale soil maps• Forestry Commission 1:10,000 scale map• National Soils Inventory_2 (2007-2009)• Peat survey data• BGS urban (Glasgow) and stream sediment data• Trend data e.g. Countryside Survey or Trends in Pollution in Scottish Soils (TIPPS)
• Derived data• Soil leaching potential• Groundwater vulnerability • Nitrous oxide emissions from soils• Metal binding capacity…..
• Contextual information needs periodic review and updating.
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With thanks to:
• Scottish Government for funding• Steering Group, Editorial Group and User Group for their support• Colleagues at the James Hutton Institute• Colleagues at Ricardo-AEA
I hope the website makes you think about land in a different way and provides the stimulus for you to visit soils in the field.
© Ricardo-AEA Ltd
www.ricardo-aea.com
T:E: W:
Ricardo-AEA LtdDr Xingyu Xiao, Dr Stuart Sneddon
+44 (0)870 190 [email protected], [email protected] www.ricardo-aea.com www.hutton.ac.uk
Mr Willie TowersMacaulay Scientific Consulting Ltd
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Back our bid!