The Soil and Terrain Database (SOTER) was part of the Soil Degradation and Vulnerability Assessment for Central and Eastern Europe (SOVEUR project) and was implemented within the framework of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the Netherlands Government Cooperative Programme. The project was technically coordinated by ISRIC - World Soil Information and assisted by the Land and Water Development Division (AGL) of FAO. The SOVEUR project has been carried out in close collaboration with specialists from soil survey institutes in Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovak Republic and the Ukraine, who collated the various national soil data using uniform guidelines.
Version 1.2 of describes a harmonized dataset of derived soil properties for the world. It was created using the soil distribution shown on the 1:5 million scale FAO-Unesco Soil Map of the World (DSMW), rasterised at 5 by 5 arcminutes, and soil property estimates derived from the ISRIC-WISE soil profile database, version 3.1. The dataset considers 19 soil variables that are commonly required for agro-ecological zoning, land evaluation, crop growth simulation, modelling of soil gaseous emissions, and analyses of global environmental change. It presents ‘best’ estimates for: soil drainage class, organic carbon content, total nitrogen, C/N ratio, pH (H2O), CECsoil, CECclay, effective CEC, base saturation, aluminium saturation, calcium carbonate content, gypsum content, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), electrical conductivity, particle size distribution (i.e. content of sand, silt and clay), content of coarse fragments (less than 2 mm), bulk density, and available water capacity (-33 to -1500 kPa). These estimates are presented by FAO soil unit for fixed depth intervals of 20 cm up to 100 cm depth (or less when appropriate) for so-called virtual profiles. The associated soil property values were derived from analyses of some 10,250 profiles held in WISE using a scheme of taxonomy-based taxotransfer rules complemented with expert-rules. The type of rules used to derive the various soil property values have been flagged in the database to provide an indication of the possible confidence in the derived data. Most map units on the DSMW are complex, comprising up to eight different soil units. Assessments and model applications that use the derived soil properties therefore should consider the full map unit composition and depth range. The soil property values presented here should be seen as best estimates based on the current selection of soil profiles in WISE, the procedure for clustering the measured data, taxotransfer scheme used for deriving soil, properties, and the spatial data of the digital Soil Map of the World. The derived information may be used for exploratory assessments at a broad scale (greater than 1:5 million; 5 by 5 arcminutes and coarser), pending the global update of the information on world soil resources at more detailed scales, upon due consideration of the underlying generalisations and assumptions. Note: A more recent assessment, at a resolution of 30arcsec (WISE30sec), is available at: http://data.isric.org/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/dc7b283a-8f19-45e1-aaed-e9bd515119bc
The Soil and Terrain database for Southern Africa (SOTERSAF version 1.0), at scale 1:2 million, include the spatial and soil attribute data for 8 Southern African countries. The SOTERSAF database was compiled using the existing soil information and following the SOTER methodology of the 1:1 million scale with respect to pedon attribute data storage. The data (SOTERSAF) were compiled in the framework of the ongoing activities of ISRIC, FAO and UNEP to update the world's baseline information on natural resources in SOTER.The project involved collaboration with national soil institutes from the countries in the region as well as individual experts.
This harmonized set of soil parameter estimates for Central and Eastern Europe has been derived from a revised version of the 1:2.5M Soil and Terrain (SOTER) Database for Central and Eastern Europe (SOVEUR ver. 1.1) and the ISRIC-WISE soil profile database. The land surface of Central and Eastern Europe, West of the Ural Mountains, has been characterized using 8361 unique maps or SOTER units. The corresponding GIS files include some 9500 mapped polygons, including miscellaneous units. The major soils have been described using 662 profiles, selected by national soil experts as being representative for these units. The associated soil analytical data have been derived from soil survey reports. These sources seldom hold all the physical and chemical attributes ideally required by SOTER. Gaps in the measured soil profile data have been filled using a procedure that uses taxotransfer rules, based on about 9600 soil profiles held in the WISE database, complemented with expert-rules. Parameter estimates are presented by soil unit for fixed depth intervals of 0.2 m to 1 m depth for: organic carbon, total nitrogen, pH(H2O), CECsoil, CECclay, base saturation, effective CEC, aluminium saturation, CaCO3 content, gypsum content, exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), electrical conductivity of saturated paste (ECe), bulk density, content of sand, silt and clay, content of coarse fragments (less than 2 mm), and available water capacity (-33 to -1500 kPa). These attributes have been identified as being useful for agro-ecological zoning, land evaluation, crop growth simulation, modelling of soil carbon stocks and change, and analyses of global environmental change. The current parameter estimates should be seen as best estimates based on the current selection of soil profiles and data clustering procedure; taxotransfer rules have been flagged to provide an indication of the confidence in the derived data. Results are presented as summary files and can be linked to the 1:2.5M scale SOVEUR map in a GIS, through the unique SOTER-unit code. The secondary data are considered appropriate for studies at the continental scale (greater than 1:2.5 million); correlation of soil analytical data should be done more rigorously when more detailed scientific work is considered.
