Updated global soil property and class maps - LandGIS Open data and services

[Tomislav Hengl]

Dear Digital Soil Mapping community,

We have recently updated global predictions of soil properties and classes and which are now available via the LandGIS app (https://landgis.opengeohub.org; our general platform for global soil, vegetation, biodiversity, climate... mapping). Predictions of soil properties are based on harvesting publicly available soil profile and soil sample databases and running machine learning using large stack of covariates (see: https://github.com/Envirometrix/LandGISmaps#soil-properties-and-classes). Most importantly, several bugs in the predictions (inherited from https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169748) have now been resolved:

1. The previous bug of about two times higher total SOC (https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GB005678) has now been resolved. A new complete and consistent soil carbon content (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1475457), bulk density (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1475970), and soil carbon stock maps (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1475453) can be download under the CC-BY-SA license.
2. Soil property predictions are now based on better (spatially) represented organic soils of peat-lands, mangrove forests and similar.
3. Cross-validation and selection of the models for ensemble predictions is based on spatial cross-validation (see: https://github.com/Envirometrix/LandGISmaps/blob/master/soil/soil_properties/LandGIS_soil_property_maps.R#L47) which results in more realistic estimates of average prediction errors.

Note that we have also started registering all data versions (i.e. adding a DOI to every version of the data and code) so that improvements and problems can be back-tracked. To list all LandGIS layers available for download via Zenodo and access all previous versions you can try using: https://zenodo.org/search?page=1&size=20&q=LandGIS

If you are working on producing soil property, or soil class, maps for your region or area, or if you are part of a national or regional soil mapping team and if the data you produce can be released under some Open Data license, then please contact us (https://opengeohub.org/about). We are currently working collaboratively with several countries to jointly develop mapping systems to produce finer resolution (e.g. 100 m) soil maps by combining the best of global and local models within Open Source Machine Learning frameworks. The merging of the global and local predictions will be based on some of the following approaches:

• Manon, C., Dobarco, M.R, Arrouays, D., Minasny, B. and N.P.A. Saby. (2019). “Merging Country, Continental and Global Predictions of Soil Texture: Lessons from Ensemble Modelling in France.” Geoderma 337: 99–110. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2018.09.007
  
• Ramcharan, A., Hengl, T., Nauman, T., Brungard, C., Waltman, S., Wills, S., & Thompson, J. (2018). “Soil Property and Class Maps of the Conterminous United States at 100-Meter Spatial Resolution.” Soil Science Society of America Journal, 82(1), 186-201. https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/sssaj/abstracts/82/1/186
  

If you discover a bug, artifact or inconsistency in the LandGIS maps, or if you have a question please use some of the following channels:

• Technical issues and questions about the code: https://github.com/Envirometrix/LandGISmaps/issues 
• General questions and comments: https://disqus.com/home/forums/landgis/

Also feel free to contact us if you would like to learn how to use LandGIS and how to publish your own global maps via LandGIS (https://opengeohub.org/submitting-global-layers-inclusion-landgis). Our special interests are land degradation (including loss of soil carbon https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1475449, soil erosion, soil salinization, loss of biodiversity, deforestation...), mapping land potential and soil productivity, estimating impacts of climate change on future soil and vegetation conditions, promoting Open Data and promoting Open Source software through workshops and training courses.

Cheers,

-- 

T. (Tom) Hengl

Technical support / Vice Chair

OpenGeoHub Foundation

Mail: OpenGeoHub Foundation, Roghorst 206, 6708KT Wageningen, NL

Tel: +31 (0)317 427537

Url: https://opengeohub.org/about

Twitter: https://twitter.com/opengeohub

https://www.youtube.com/c/OpenGeoHubFoundation

skype:tom.hengl?chat

Publications: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=2oYU7S8AAAAJ