Errors in soil maps: The need for better on-site estimates and soil map predictions

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 18; no. 1; p. e0270176
• Main Authors: Buenemann, Michaela, Coetzee, Marina E, Kutuahupira, Josephat, Maynard, Jonathan J, Herrick, Jeffrey E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 11.01.2023; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Accuracy; Africa, Southern; Analysis; Applications programs; Biology and Life Sciences; Carbon; Climate; Crop production; Cultural heritage; Databases, Factual; Decision making; Earth Sciences; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Errors; Estimates; Geospatial data; Irrigation systems; Land use planning; Mapping; Mobile computing; Namibia; Natural resources; Online data bases; Onsite; People and Places; Physical Sciences; Predictions; Runoff; Soil; Soil Erosion; Soil maps; Soil properties; Soil quality; Soil surveys; Soil texture; Soil water; Spatial distribution; Systems design; Terrain; Texture mapping; Topography; Topsoil; Africa, Southern; Namibia; United States; United States > US; Southern Africa

High-quality soil maps are urgently needed by diverse stakeholders, but errors in existing soil maps are often unknown, particularly in countries with limited soil surveys. To address this issue, we used field soil data to assess the accuracy of seven spatial soil databases (Digital Soil Map of the...