There is an abundance of readily-available soil resource information online. Here is a selection of some of the best mapping and spatial resources, field and classification guides, as well as technical data and reports.
Mapping and Spatial Resources
The Web Soil Survey by USDA/Natural Resource Conservation Service requires a computer, and provides soil inventory and interpretive recommendations for land use based on a chosen soil location.
Similar to the Web Soil Survey, SoilWeb (UCDavis) from the University of California Davis is usable on both a computer and a smartphone or other device. SoilWeb provides soil maps with profiles, diagrams, and properties. When used with a GPS enabled smart phone, the application will also find the soils around your location for easy soil inventory and display.
ISRIC – World Soil Information is a curator of web-based global soil information with a worldwide geographic database of more than 190,000 soil profiles. ISRIC also provides web portals to numerous soil mapping and databases held by government agencies and other service providers, as well as a wonderful virtual World Soil Museum showcasing the diversity and abundance of soils.
The Institute for Resource Information Sciences (IRIS) at Cornell University integrates environmental information science and technologies to support education and research. IRIS’s expertise covers remotely sensed data and geospatial data, geodatabase development, project flow, data manipulation, data and spatial visualization as well as preparing final maps for completed project design and analysis products.
Field and Classification Guides
The Field Office Technical Guides (FOTGs) are a collection of technical guidelines for implementing conservation practice standards offered by the NRCS. Created in collaboration with local land-grant universities and state agencies, FOTGs should be viewed as standard guidelines and as references for good design and practice — not as replacements for local building codes.
The Soil Survey Manual is the primary information source for all National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) activities. Covering the practices of creating soil maps as well as the composition and use of the accompanying database, this guide provides insight throughout the process of creation, distributing, maintaining and using Soil Survey.
Soil Taxonomy is the United States soil classification system for naming soil information. While not the only soil classification system worldwide, it is the most widely used and applied system. Once you understand the system, it provides an easy method of communicating and interpreting information for any soil.
Technical Data and Reports
The USDA/Natural Resource Conservation Service also provides complete descriptions of every current soil series in the United States. These descriptions can be found online at the Official Soil Series Description (OSD) website. Visit to not only get an understanding of a soil’s morphology, but also an idea about related soils and the environment and landscape in which that soil series is found.
Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO) and the Digital General Soil Map of the United States (STATSGO2) are the primary sources for geographically referenced soil information in the United States. Serving as a data hub for scientists and practitioners, the SSURGO/STATSGO2 Metadata website provides the SSURGO data model, GIS data and SSURGO metadata for download.
Please contact us at soil3@cornell.edu if you still have questions about this topic, and don’t see the information you need on our site. Remember, you can always navigate this website by topic using the Key Resources section/sidebar.