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Soil Data Metrics

Metrics document the value of the soil information to NRCS-SPSD customers who are making informed decisions, protecting the land, and enhancing agricultural productivity.

Prove It – Measuring Success of Our Soil Data and Information Services

Most of the world’s food and fiber production directly depends on soil as a growth medium, nutrient supply mediator, and buffer against daily changes in available moisture. While erosion can contribute to surface water contamination, most sources of drinking water benefit from filtration through the soil and underlying geologic strata. Soil scientists continuously update national soil survey products to provide the best available soil properties and interpretations to support relevant land management decisions. 

The NRCS-Soil and Plant Science Division (SPSD) collects statistics on usage of Web Soil Survey, SoilWeb, Dynamic Soils Hub, and Soil Data Access to improve NRCS-SPSD support for conservation planning and implementation by designing new tools and services as well as improving performance. Analysis of these statistics (access date, time, and location), also referred to as “metrics,” clearly demonstrate the high value that customers place on the data.

How We Use Metrics:

  • Ensure the accuracy and reliability of soil data.
  • Standardize data formats, making it easier for users to access and interpret soil information.
  • Facilitate interoperability with other systems, promoting seamless data exchange.
  • Improve user-centric design to enhance accessibility and usability.

The metrics indicate that demand and user volume for technical soils information is growing. The soil science community identifies agricultural producers as a critical user base but also recognizes many other user groups who depend on soil survey information. It is critical to differentiate cohorts of customers, how and where soils information is consumed, and even the patterns of usage through time so NRCS-SPSD can effectively develop soil interpretation (models) at state, national, and global scales to meet users’ needs.

Digging In

During fiscal year 2023, Web Soil Survey and Soil Data Access received 3,434,058 and 121,378,385 requests, respectively. In general, Soil Data Access traffic is greater than Web Soil Survey because the Soil Data Access application programming interface (API) is connected to many external applications and GIS tools. The standard SoilWeb application received 409,021 visits, Soil Data Explorer received 199,152 visits, and Series Extent Explorer received 55,240 visits. Roughly 50 percent of these visits were from mobile devices. The standard SoilWeb application received 4,000–5,000 unique requests for soils data per day, while the mobile interface had 500–800 unique requests per day. The Google Earth interface received 10,000–20,000 unique requests (each zoom or pan event is a request) per day.

The following maps and figures highlight Web Soil Survey, Soil Data Access, and SoilWeb access patterns through a temporal and spatial lens. Web Soil Survey metrics are based on “areas of interest” (AOI) created by users of the website. Soil Data Access metrics are based on distinct queries submitted to the web-service. SoilWeb metrics are based on user “clicks,” either on a map interface or while using a mobile device.

Two panels of timeseries data, showing the number of web soil survey area of interest (AOI) created each day, from April, 2015 through March, 2024. The top panel is the raw data, spanning roughly 2,000 to 16,000 AOIs created per day on the y-axis. The bottom panel is a 60-day smoothed representation of the data, spanning roughly 7,000 to 11,000 AOIs create per day on the y-axis.
Figure 1. Smoothed estimate of daily Web Soil Survey (WSS) AOI creation, using a 60-day filter. The seasonal trends in WSS usage (dips in January and June with peaks in March and October) are likely related to key dates related to soil trafficability, planting, harvest, and other land uses contingent on soil moisture. The long-term trend suggests a constant increase in daily WSS usage.

 

A gridded representation of 60-day smoothed, WSS area of interest (AOI) creation by day of year (x-axis, columns) and calendar year (y-axis, rows). AOI creation intensity is encoded using color mapped to percentiles of values.
Figure 2. Seasonal variation in daily Web Soil Survey (WSS) AOI creation, using a 60-day filter. Rows represent years, and columns represent day of year. Color represents percentiles of daily AOI creation. Larger values (warm hues) denote periods of higher WSS usage, and lower values (cool hues) represent periods of lower WSS usage. Early spring and late fall are consistently the busiest times for users of WSS.

 

A gridded representation of WSS area of interest (AOI) creation by day of week (x-axis, columns) and calendar year (y-axis, rows). Cells are split into 12 panels, one for each month. AOI creation intensity is encoded using color mapped to percentiles of values.
Figure 3. Variation in Web Soil Survey (WSS) AOI creation. Rows represent years, columns represent day of the week, and cell values (colors) represent average percentile of AOI creation. Warmer hues represent higher AOI creation intensity, and cooler hues represent lower AOI creation intensity. Not surprisingly, most WSS traffic occurs during the work week. Heavy traffic in spring and fall are also visible in this figure (warmer hues). 

 

A bar chart summarizing total SDA queries by calendar year.
Figure 4. Number of requests submitted to Soil Data Access application programming interface, by calendar year. In 2023, the number of requests submitted was around 121 million, which indicates a trend of more organizations streaming in soils data into their applications to make informed decisions for land management.

 

A bar chart summarizing total CART queries by calendar year.
Figure 5. Of the roughly 121 million Soil Data Access requests made in 2023, approximately 4.6 million were from the Conservation Assessment Ranking Tool (CART). NRCS conservation planners use CART during a customer’s application process to assess the customer’s request(s) for assistance by evaluating the resource concerns, planned practices, and site vulnerability, while also ranking the customer’s request(s) for assistance in multiple funding pools for NRCS program funding consideration. Comparing chart numbers from year to year doesn’t mean much. It just shows the impact soils data has on conservation. Soils is an integral in every aspect of conservation assessments.

 

A map of the United States showing Web Soil Survey Area of Interest centroid density. Color is used to indicate density. The density increases as the color becomes brighter in shade.
Figure 6. Estimated density of Web Soil Survey (WSS) AOI created, per 10 x 10 km grid cell. Like a population map, this map shows the areas of agricultural significance that are most frequently queried for soil data. Each AOI creation represents many possible soils-related questions that were answered in the form of reports, tables, and thematic maps.

 

A map of the United States showing SoilWeb Gmaps query density. Color is used to indicate density. The density increases as the color becomes brighter in shade.
Figure 7. Estimated density of SoilWeb queries, per 10 x 10 km grid cell. Each query represents a “click” on the map interface—an explicit request for soils information at a specific point on the ground. The map represents requests from September 2014 through April 2024.

 

A map of the United States showing Web Soil Survey App 2.x density. Color is used to indicate density. The density increases as the color becomes brighter. However, there are some areas on the map that have no color.
Figure 8. Estimated density of iOS and Android SoilWeb app queries, per 10 x 10 km grid cell. Each query represents a unique request for soil survey data made by people who are outdoors, standing on the soil, and using their mobile device to query the soil survey. The map represents requests from April 2019 through April 2024.

 

This graph shows Web Soil Survey Area of Interest Centroid Density from 2015 thought 2024. The y axis indicates area of interest density per square kilometer, and the x axis indicates population density per square kilometer.
Figure 9. Relationship between population density and AOI centroid density, adjusted to a 1 x 1 km basis. Colors represent joint density of points in the scatter plot, and brighter colors signify higher density. The red “x” symbol marks the joint median (value splitting data into equal halves) of AOI density and population density. The densest AOI creation happens in regions with a population density close to that of the state of Nebraska. In other words, by area, most customers (by proxy of AOI density) are in relatively rural parts of the United States. However, NRCS-SPSD is still meeting the apparent demand for data in more urban parts of the country.

Summary

Metrics document the value of the soil information to NRCS-SPSD customers who are making informed decisions, protecting the land, and enhancing agricultural productivity. The clear and consistent demand for soil data, across a wide variety of geographic settings, demonstrates that Web Soil Survey, Soil Data Access, and SoilWeb play an important role in sustainable land management and conservation efforts. “Understanding metrics is a major step-forward in meeting the growing demand for NRCS soils data,” said Dave Hoover, retired NRCS-SPSD National Soil Survey Director. “Our soil scientists in every state helped us upgrade all our software and databases, improve our spatial data, and put together a complete suite of soil interpretations and other products our customers want.”

What Do Our Different Tools Do?

Web Soil Survey (WSS): Providing access to the largest natural resource information system in the world, Web Soil Survey is a one-stop shop to a wealth of free, soil information along with soil maps, properties, and interpretations. WSS provides soil maps and data available online for more than 95 percent of the nation’s counties.

SoilWeb: SoilWeb was developed by the California Soil Resource Lab at the University of California Davis and University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources in collaboration with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. It is an online soil survey browser. SoilWeb products can be used to access USDA National Cooperative Soil Survey detailed soil survey data managed through the Soil Survey Geographic Database, or SSURGO, for most of the United States.

Different SoilWeb Apps allow customers to explore and utilize different data. The apps include: SoilWeb that can be used to explore soil survey areas using an interactive Google map and to view detailed information about map units and their components. It is compatible with smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. The Soil Series Extent Explorer application can be used to quickly display and compare the approximate geographic distribution of up to five soil series. The Soil Data Explorer provides detailed information about a given soil series.

Dynamic Soils Hub: SPSD’s award-winning Dynamic Soils Hub expands USDA’s capacity to model and report on soil properties that change with conservation management on a human timescale. The Hub was developed to rapidly respond to customer requests for science-based soil property data. At the state level, SPSD collaborates with state conservation staff using tools such as the highly erodible land tool and nutrient runoff tool. It supports the Conservation Innovation Grants, Conservation Stewardship Program, Environmental Quality Incentives Program, and nationwide soil health efforts.

Soil Data Access: Soil Data Access is a suite of web services that allows advanced users to submit custom queries and stream data into software. It serves all communities equally in the ability to generate interpretations for management and use, support conservation programs and planning, and respond to environmental changes.

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