A multilingual soil profile database ( SDBm Plus) as an essential part of land resources information systems

Abstract

The multilingual soil profile database (named SDBm Plus) is user-friendly software designed to store and retrieve in an efficient and systematic way the large amounts of geo-referenced soil attribute data collected in soil surveys and laboratories. The database has the following main characteristics: (i) running on Windows platforms; (ii) ‘assist menus’ facilitating data entry; (iii) automatic translation from English to Spanish, French and German; (iv) metadata facility to describe the methods used in laboratory analysis; (v) temporal mode to collect over time the analytical, physical and hydraulic soil properties; and (vi) interface for the automatic transfer of soil attribute data to GIS and computerised land evaluation models. The following soil attribute datasets are included in SDBm Plus: (i) site characteristics, information related to the identification and taxonomic classification of the soil profile; (ii) horizon description; (iii) conventional soil survey analytical results; (iv) soluble salts and most trace elements present in the soil or considered as major soil contaminants; (v) general soil physical analytical results; (vi) water retention and hydraulic conductivity at different tensions; (vii) photographs; and (viii) analytical methods and procedures used. This database can be used in soil monitoring and evaluation regardless of scale (regional, national or local), and especially to implement tools on choosing optimal land use and management decisions in sustainable agriculture development.