Konferenzbeitrag
The European Soil Portal: Networking Soil Information in Europe
Vorschaubild nicht verfügbar
Volltext URI
Dokumententyp
Text/Conference Paper
Zusatzinformation
Datum
2005
Autor:innen
Zeitschriftentitel
ISSN der Zeitschrift
Bandtitel
Verlag
Masaryk University Brno
Zusammenfassung
The European Soil Portal is the joint contribution of the European Commission and the European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN) to the building of a thematic spatial data infrastructure for soils. This portal, located at http://eusoils.jrc.it, is the place in which all relevant data and information regarding soils at European level has been collected. Furthermore, it is a useful utility for the ESBN to promote its range of activities. The activities related to this portal are in line with the INSPIRE (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) initiative. INSPIRE deals, among others, with difficulties to identify, access and use available spatial information in Europe.
The European Soil Portal aims at networking soil information at European level. It is mainly built around the European Soil Database (ESDB), which consists of a number of components of which the Soil Geographical Database of Eurasia (SGDBE) at Scale 1:1,000,000 is one. It is a representation of the diversity and spatial variability of the soil coverage across Europe and its neighbouring countries.
The ESDB is the main source of information from which most other data information and services are derived. For instance, the “European Soil Database v2 Raster Archive” contains raster (grid) data files with cell sizes of 10km x 10km for a large number of soil related parameters. Each grid is aligned with the INSPIRE reference grid recommended in the 1st Workshop on European Reference Grids. These rasters are in the public domain and allow expert users to use the data for instance to run soil-, water- and air related models. The 10km x 10km grids fit with ideas from INSPIRE to develop “nested” systems for reporting and updating European soil data at different scales, according to a hierarchy of grids with a common point of origin and standardized location and size of grid cells.
The soil raster data files are accompanied by as many static soil maps (PDF Format, A3), which allow the user to have a quick overview of the distribution of soil characteristics in a spatial way. One of the main outputs of the ESBN has been a series of documents and research reports. All these are now on-line for public download.
Additionally, a number of mapping services have been developed in order to allow the general public to navigate and query soil data. The SOMIS (SOil Map Internet Service) is a web-based application for the navigation of ESDB related data through a map interface. This map service allows interaction through soil parameter selection and map operations such as zooming and panning. The data can be queried and identified, Advanced printing capabilities are provided. According to INSPIRE principles, this application has been created and extended so that it is possible to combine layers of maps located in different map servers all around the World, based on International Web Map Service (WMS) standards and specifications from the Open GIS Consortium, as also laid down in the INSPIRE Guidelines, in order to attain the maximum interoperability of data and services.
The European Soil Portal provides also access to data and information for specific soil themes such as erosion and organic carbon content and prepares the data for other themes such as soil contamination and land degradation. Another topic presented in the soil portal is the ECALP project which aims to create a useful network among regional and national institutions –data owners and managers of soil data in the alpine region. It aims at the implementation of the Alpine Ecopedological Information System that can offer data and information to operational end users, land managers that operate at different levels and soil scientists together with experts of other disciplines. The ECALP information system will set-up a shared soil database for the Alps.
A part of the Soil Portal is dedicated to utilities that improve the dissemination of information to frequent users of the site. In order improve the dissemination and distribution of information, the European Soil Portal has established an “Events” space, which documents relevant events (e.g. it collects and distributes agenda’s and presentations made at various events (Conferences, Workshops, Meetings) and are related to the work done in the European Soil Bureau Network.