Using Proximal Soil Sensors for Digital Soil Mapping

Abstract

There is a great need for soil data to be used in natural resource assessment and management, e.g. for environmental modelling and digital soil mapping (DSM) to better understand soil processes and reduce risks in decision making. Conventional soil survey cannot efficiently provide these data because the techniques are time consuming and expensive. Proximal soil sensing (PSS) can be used to acquire spatial and temporal data cheaply and with less effort. This paper reviews some the technologies that may be used for PSS and proposes a framework for their use with DSM.