Spatial soil information in South Africa : situational analysis, limitations and challenges
Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Academy of Science of South Africa
Abstract
Soil information is vital for a range of purposes; however, soils vary greatly over short distances, making
accurate soil data difficult to obtain. Soil surveys were first carried out in the 1920s, and the first national soil
map was produced in 1940. Several regional studies were done in the 1960s, with the national Land Type
Survey completed in 2002. Subsequently, the transfer of soil data to digital format has allowed a wide range
of interpretations, but many data are still not freely available as they are held by a number of different bodies.
The need for soil data is rapidly expanding to a range of fields, including health, food security, hydrological
modelling and climate change. Fortunately, advances have been made in fields such as digital soil mapping,
which enables the soil surveyors to address the need. The South African Soil Science fraternity will have
to adapt to the changing environment in order to comply with the growing demands for data. At a recent
Soil Information Workshop, soil scientists from government, academia and industry met to concentrate
efforts in meeting the current and future soil data needs. The priorities identified included: interdisciplinary
collaboration; expansion of the current national soil database with advanced data acquisition, manipulation,
interpretation and countrywide dissemination facilities; and policy and human capital development in newly
emerging soil science and environmental fields. It is hoped that soil information can play a critical role in the
establishment of a national Natural Agricultural Information System.
Description
CITATION: Paterson, G. et al. 2015. Spatial soil information in South Africa : situational analysis, limitations and challenges. South African Journal of Science, 111(5/6),
Art. #2014-0178, doi:10.17159/sajs.2015/20140178.
The original publication is available at http://sajs.co.za
The original publication is available at http://sajs.co.za
Keywords
Soil survey, Digital soil mapping, Natural resources
Citation
Paterson, G. et al. 2015. Spatial soil information in South Africa : situational analysis, limitations and challenges. South African Journal of Science, 111(5/6),
Art. #2014-0178, doi:10.17159/sajs.2015/20140178.