Core spatial datasets
Soils and Soil Resources
Soils considered as the upper layers of the earth's crost in which plants grow.
Keywords: soil texture, subsoil, top soil, soil degradation, soil erosion, soil moisture, desertification, soil classification.
26 March 2009 The HWSD is a 30 arc-second raster database with over 16000 different soil mapping units that combines existing regional and national updates of soil information worldwide (SOTER, ESD, Soil Map of China, WISE) with the information contained within the 1:5 000 000 scale FAO-UNESCO Soil Map of the World (FAO, 19711981). [more]
25 June 2007 The map is a regional (South and Southeast Asia ) raster data layer with a resolution of 5 arc-minutes. It shows croplands in South and Southeast Asia with high levels of sheet erosion. This provides an indication of potential off-site impacts in the form of siltation and sedimentation in waterways. The map is based on the Assessment of the Human Induced Soil Degradation in South and South East Asia conducted between 1994-1997 by the International Soil Reference and Information Center (ISRIC) and FAO. The data sources are from FAO and ISRIC. [more]
25 June 2007 The map is a global raster data layer with a resolution of 5 arc-minutes. Soil carbon sequestration potential is calculated using the Global Conditions for Soil Carbon Sequestration methodology from FAO. Soil carbon pool (actual) is available from FAO. The soil carbon gap, indicates locations where there are currently low soil-carbon levels combined with medium-to-high technical potential and medium soil-carbon levels combined with high technical potential for sequestration, depending on soil type, climate soil moisture and land cover. The data sources are from FAO. [more]
28 February 2007 The vector data set is based on the FAO-UNESCO Soil Map of the World. The Digitized Soil Map of the World, at 1:5.000.000 scale, is in the Geographic projection (Latitude - Longitude) intersected with a template containing water related features (coastlines, lakes, glaciers and double-lined rivers). The Digital Soil Map of the World (except for the continent of Africa) was intersected with the Country Boundaries map from the World Data Bank II (with country boundaries updated to January 1994 at 1:3 000 000 scale), obtained from the US Government. For Africa, the country boundaries are derived from the FAO Country Boundaries on the original FAO/UNESCO Soil Map of the World. Country boundaries in both cases were checked and adjusted in certain places on the basis of FAO and UN conventions. [more]
16 February 2006 The raster dataset of the FAO/UNESCO Digital Soil Map of the World (DSMW) has a spatial resolution of 5 * 5 arc minutes and is in geographic projection.This database will be used mainly for poverty and food insecurity mapping, particularly for analysing where the people live at global scales in relation to: Agroecological zones, marginal or productive lands and major foodcrop production systems, in particular those important to food security for the rural poor. [more]
last updated: Thursday, April 23, 2009