Slideshow by Grant Campbell based on a 5minute presentation Turbo Talk done at the Facing the Future Conference at Dundee University 26-27th May 2015

1. Grant Campbell
Supervisors: Helaina Black,
Allan Lilly, Ron Corstanje,
Thomas Mayr

2. ‘Application of Digital Soil Mapping
(DSM) to improve the accuracy of
national soils data’
Fieldwork at Strachan, near
Aboyne, Aberdeenshire
Example of computer mapping an
area of NE Scotland

5. Users of soil information
 Used by a wide variety of people
 Not restricted to just soil scientists.
 Research organisation (university, institutes)
 Local Authorities/Councils
 Governmental Departments/Agencies
 Finance/insurance
 Construction industry
 + lots more!

6. Why do we need soil information?
 Assess current quality of soil
 Morphology, chemistry and biological
components.
 Can provide information
 Water resource management
 Land suitable for growing crops
 Potential areas for carbon
sequestration.

7. Digital Soil Mapping (DSM)
 Maps of soil types and properties which can be supported
by computer-based applications.
Soil
Climate
Organisms
Relief
Parent material
Age
Spatial position
Adapted from: Hannam, J., Mayr, T., Zawadska, J., Corstanje, R., Hallett, S., Jones, B.,
Creamer, R. (2014). "Putting the soil back into digital soil mapping."
Data Cleansing
Analyses
of data
e.g. inference
model

8. A move towards
Digital Soil
Assessment (DSA)?
Soil functions need
further
exploration…
Carré, F., McBratney, A.B., Mayr,
T., and Montanarella, L. (2007):
"Digital soil assessments:
Beyond DSM." Geoderma
142(1–2): pp.69-79.

9. To summarise
 Soil has many functions such as:
 Food, fibre and fuel production
 Water
 Carbon (energy source)
 We need to:
 utilise existing data that we have already
 Acquire additional data effectively for DSM.
 Make information easily accessible for appropriate
stakeholders
 DSM will help in terms of improving the quality of
national soils data and reduce uncertainty.

10. Thank You!