Small computers are fast becoming standard tools for natural resource decision-making
Excerpt
AS land users require more and better soil mapping information, those processing the information need more efficient methods of assembling data in understandable terms.
Mircocomputers can take data and assemble it into digitized soil maps and interpretive records. This is especially helpful because interpretations for one state may contain several hundred thousand pieces of information.
In Pennsylvania, for example, where mapping is nearly complete, there are over 3,000 different soil mapping units. Interpretations for most of these units are found on 312 records with 7,194 lines each. In addition, about 700 pedons with more than 8,000 horizons have been analyzed for up to 50 properties. The resulting data set contains in excess of 400,000 items (l).
The combinations of these data sets through organization by computers quickly provides the answers to soil survey questions that can otherwise only be obtained from a soil survey report by a trained soil scientist. These answers are suitable for tabular or graphic display in hard copy, on a color monitor, or as electronic input into other land use and management models.
Some examples: terrain elevation models, which are available for some areas Pennsylvania, can be used to overlay elevation data …
Footnotes
Robert L. Cunningham and Gary W. Petersen are professors of soil genesis and morphology and Christopher J. Sacksteder is a senior programmer and systems analyst, with the Department of Agronomy, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, 16802. This article is a contribution of the Journal Series, Pennsylvania Agriultural Experiment Station, authorized for publication on February 20, 1984, as paper no. 6875. The material was originally presented in August 1983 at the 38th annual meeting of the Soil Conservation Society of America in Hartford, Connecticut.
- Copyright 1984 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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