Humphrey Milford’s (NSW OEH) presentation on the NSW Soil and Land Information System (SALIS) database. Made to members and guests of the Riverina Branch of the Australian Society of Soil Science at a Soils Database Workshop, Albury-Wodonga campus of Charles Sturt University, on the 7 June 2013

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SALIS
NSW Soil and Land Information System
An Introduction

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What is SALIS?
• NSW Government’s database of soil and land
information, currently under the custodianship of OEH
• Maintained under Soil Conservation Act 1938, also
supports other legislation, e.g., Mining SEPP
• Centralised corporate database (Oracle 10) and
management system (Unify TD 6.0)
• Working towards a ‘single point of truth’ for soil and land
information in NSW
• Two key datasets:
- NSW Soil Profiles
- NSW Soil Mapping (Soil Landscapes)

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NSW Soil Profiles – Status

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NSW Soil Profiles – Coverage

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NSW Soil Profiles - Description
• Hundreds of Government and non-Government
sources
• Density, quantity and quality
of data depending on
purpose of collection, etc.
• Usually collected using
scannable Soil Data Cards
• Backed by State and National
standards for data collection

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NSW Soil Profiles – Accessibility
• Now:
- SPADE (http://spade.environment.nsw.gov.au) for map-
based access to reports on individual profiles
- Contact soils@environment.nsw.gov.au for outputs like
spreadsheets, multiple reports, shapefiles, etc.
• Coming:
- Spatial viewer access to entire Public dataset on fixed and
mobile devices
- In-field digital data capture on laptops and mobile devices,
replacing Soil Data Cards
• Future:
- Web access to SALIS for data suppliers, owners and users

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NSW Soil Mapping
• Developed from amalgamation of 68 individual
soil map datasets across NSW, including:
- Soil Landscapes
- Soil and Land Resources (including Murray)
- Land Systems
• Progressively updated as new or improved
mapping made available
• Seamless(ish) foundation for Statewide maps of
soil and land features, such as...

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Land and Soil Capability (LSC)
• “Inherent physical capacity of the land to sustain a range
of land uses… without degradation to soil, land, air and
water resources.”
• 8-class system building on Rural Land Capability (RLC)
scheme
• Uses biophysical features of land and soil, e.g., water
and wind erosion, soil structure decline, soil acidification,
salinity, waterlogging, shallow soils, mass movement
• All mapped units in NSW have an LSC classification
• Progressive release of priority areas (SRLUP)
• Download at http://mapdata.environment.nsw.gov.au

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LSC map of NSW

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Soil Type maps
• Uses dominant soil types captured through Land and Soil
Capability classification process
• Two versions:
- Australian Soil Classification (ASC) at Order level
- modified Great Soil Groups (GSG)
• All mapped units in NSW have a dominant soil type
• Statewide coverages as ESRI shapefiles, PDFs coming
• Download at http://mapdata.environment.nsw.gov.au

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Soil Type maps of NSW

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Estimated Inherent Soil Fertility
• 5-class system based on fertility ratings of Great Soil
Groups from Charman (1978)
• All mapped units in NSW have a fertility rating
• Progressive release of priority areas (SRLUP)
• Download at
http://mapdata.environment.nsw.gov.au

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Soil Fertility map of NSW

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Biophysical Strategic Agricultural
Land (BSAL)
• “Highly productive land that has both unique natural resource
characteristics (such as soil and water resources) as well as socio-
economic value…”
• Criteria:
- LSC classes 1, 2 or 3 with Soil Fertility classes 4 or 5, OR LSC
classes 1 or 2 with Soil Fertility classes 3, 4 or 5
- Reliable water supply of suitable quality for agriculture
- Minimum area of 20 ha
• BSAL merits greater levels of protection against mining and coal seam
gas development
• BSAL mapping produced by Department of Planning and Infrastructure
and released as part of Strategic Regional Land Use Plans for Upper
Hunter and New England-North West areas; others to be released later
• More information and ESRI shapefiles of BSAL available from
http://planning.nsw.gov.au

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BSAL Maps

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BSAL Maps

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NSW soil mapping – availability
• Now:
- Shapefiles at http://mapdata.environment.nsw.gov.au
- Interactive DVDs and CDs of Soil Landscapes and Soil and
Land Resources products, available via
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/soils/soilmaps.htm
- Hard-copy Soil Landscape reports and maps
• Coming:
- Online spatial viewer access to Statewide soil mapping and
map unit descriptions on fixed and mobile platforms
- Downloadable Soil Landscape reports as PDFs
- Downloadable Soil Landscape maps as PDF

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Any questions?
humphrey.milford@environment.nsw.gov.au

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Title - Ariel 36 Point Font
• First level dot point – Ariel 26 point font
- Second level dot point
Third level dot point
• First level dot point