Year of publication
2014
Excerpt
This version 1.2 of the Africa Soil Profiles Database is an update of version 1.1 (Leenaars, 2013) and includes additional soil profile data from in particular Burkina Faso, Mali, Ghana, Chad, Somalia, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia. The database is compiled from a wide variety of digital and analogue data sources reporting soil profile data in various formats and standards. The soil-attribute values are compiled and standardised according to SOTER conventions and are submitted to routine quality control. The soil profile data are georeferenced, permitting to establish and model the relationships between soil data and auxiliary spatial information prior to soil property mapping.
The Africa Soil Profiles Database version 1.2 holds attribute values for 18,532 soil profiles, of which 17,160 are georeferenced, consisting of 74,961 soil profile layers. The profile attributes are originally observed or measured by methods and standards which typically vary from one study or survey to another – these have been documented in the dataset. The Africa Soil Profiles Database inevitably includes data gaps of varying nature, and as a result not all data may be fit for modelling and analysis purposes without prior gap filling. The quality of the data is by definition use- and resolution-dependent. The present standardised and qualitycontrolled legacy soil profile data are considered appropriate to underpin digital soil property mapping of vast areas at moderate resolution (1-10 km² pixel size, depending on the attribute concerned) as well as to serve other purposes such as conventional area class mapping and exploratory studies of soil properties across Sub-Saharan Africa.
This report describes the sources and methods used to compile the database, the structure and content of the database and presents examples of use of the data. This report only serves to describe the database; a procedures manual will be prepared upon embedding of the database into the World Soil Information Service (WoSIS) and full functionality of the associated portal.
The Africa Soil Profiles Database version 1.2 holds attribute values for 18,532 soil profiles, of which 17,160 are georeferenced, consisting of 74,961 soil profile layers. The profile attributes are originally observed or measured by methods and standards which typically vary from one study or survey to another – these have been documented in the dataset. The Africa Soil Profiles Database inevitably includes data gaps of varying nature, and as a result not all data may be fit for modelling and analysis purposes without prior gap filling. The quality of the data is by definition use- and resolution-dependent. The present standardised and qualitycontrolled legacy soil profile data are considered appropriate to underpin digital soil property mapping of vast areas at moderate resolution (1-10 km² pixel size, depending on the attribute concerned) as well as to serve other purposes such as conventional area class mapping and exploratory studies of soil properties across Sub-Saharan Africa.
This report describes the sources and methods used to compile the database, the structure and content of the database and presents examples of use of the data. This report only serves to describe the database; a procedures manual will be prepared upon embedding of the database into the World Soil Information Service (WoSIS) and full functionality of the associated portal.