Digital Soil Mapping as a Component of Data Renewal for Areas with Sparse Soil Data Infrastructures

This chapter introduces the concepts of data rescue of legacy soil surveys, here defined as a simple conversion to archival format by scanning or direct entry into a database, and data renewal, here defined as the process of bringing these surveys up to modern standards by taking advantage of technological and conceptual advances in geoinformation technology. This is especially important in areas with sparse soil data infrastructure, as it is both more likely that the data will be lost and less likely that a new survey can be commissioned. Digital Soil Mapping (DSM) techniques, although designed for new surveys, can play an important role in data rescue and renewal, in particular as geodetic control for a GIS coverage, as a medium-resolution elevation model (DEM) and derived terrain parameters to adjust terrain-related boundaries, and synoptic satellite imagery to adjust vegetation or landuse-related boundaries. The semantic issues raised by soil-landscape modelling within DSM are especially important for data renewal and integration with supplementary surveys. As with DSM in general, a data renewal exercise may require cultural and institutional change in traditional soil survey organization.