National Soil Map and Inventory for England and Wales

England and Wales soil data is maintained by the National Soil Resources Institute, incorporating legacy survey work. The digital information includes vector and gridded versions of the 1:250,000 scale National Soil Map, a National Soil Inventory with topsoil chemistry, and soil series property values. Data is held in the LandIS relational database managed by NSRI staff.

Use Cases

• Classify soil types across England and Wales using the 1:250,000 scale National Soil Map vector data.
• Analyze topsoil chemistry trends using data from the National Soil Inventory.
• Model soil functional values for specific soil series using representative property ranges.
• Correlate soil profile descriptions with accompanying analytical data for specific sites.

Strengths

• Includes a simplified Soilscapes version of the national map for easier analysis.
• Integrates multiple data sets including soil maps, inventory data, and profile descriptions.
• Maintained by a dedicated institute (NSRI) within a relational database (LandIS).

Limitations

• Specific row counts, column details, and sample sizes for profile data are unknown.
• Geographic scope is limited to England and Wales, not the entire UK.
• Temporal coverage and update frequency of the digital data are unspecified.

Provenance

Source

National Soil Resources Institute (NSRI), Cranfield University.

Collection Method

Incorporates published and unpublished paper soil reports and maps, digitized into the LandIS database.

Geography

England and Wales.