Soils Data, Maps and Information Sources
Soil information collected by government in Australia is held by the states and territories. In recent years, all the jurisdictions have been collaborating with Commonwealth and other research agencies to develop national products.
National
The Soil and Landscape Grid of Australia, provides fine resolution modelled soil attribute surfaces across all of Australia at six standard depth intervals. Surfaces of continuous raster data are publicly available and can be downloaded in a variety of ways described here. Data can also be extracted from the grid on a per pixel basis in a variety of formats from web services found here.
The Australian Soil Resource Information System, ASRIS provides online access to publicly available data and information on soil and land resources (including polygon mapping at various scales, reference sites and analytical data, and interpreted national grid products) in a consistent format across Australia. A number of data sets are available to view and download here.
SoilMapp for iPad: Viewer for maps, photographs, satellite images, tables and graphs of data about nearby soils.
States and Territories
New South Wales
eSPADE is a free Internet information system that allows easy access to soil and land information for NSW. eSPADE DPIE information page – information about using eSPADE and an overview of the data and mapping products it contains.
OEH Land and soil information webpage – information about DPIE soil data systems and their relationships.
DPIE SEED portal – metadata and download for all DPIE datasets.
Victoria
Victorian Resources Online contains an extensive range of natural resource related information, including soil profile data, land resource mapping and technical reports.
Spatial data suitable for GIS can be downloaded from Data Vic.
Queensland
Queensland Globe – a viewing platform for soil and land resource mapping. This includes soils mapping, soil profile data and links to download portals.
Queensland Spatial Catalogue – download portal for spatial data (maps and sites) of soils and land resource projects across Queensland.
Queensland Publications Portal – download portal for published maps and technical reports for soils and land resource projects across Queensland.
ELW library catalogue – catalogue and download portal for accessing historical reports and publications.
soils@qld.gov.au – Whole of Government email address for soils related requests (including soils data, mapping and information)
Soil management website – Whole of Government website for soils information.
Queensland soil APIs – options to download CSV or PDF of data or query the API directly.
South Australia
NatureMaps provides a viewing platform for SA’s soil landscape mapping, including > 40 soil and land attributes. Links are provided for downloading spatial data from Data.SA. Land use potential map layers (> 40 crop and land use types) are also available from NatureMaps and PIRSA’s AgInsight.
Enviro Data SA provides access to a range of fact sheets, reports, statewide pdf maps, Land System Reports, and includes the reference text: The soils of southern SA (pt1 & pt2).
Soil Sites SA provides access to publicly-available soil profile data.
Supporting information is available from the DEW website on sustainable soil and land management, and an overview of available SA soil information.
Tasmania
LISTmap – The LIST (Land Information System Tasmania) is a whole-of-government online infrastructure for viewing ~1,000 layers including soil maps, site data, land systems, land capability and enterprise suitability mapping. Soil mapping includes various 1:100,000 scale and detailed soil surveys, state-wide 30m resolution digital soil attribute and vulnerability maps, and acid sulfate soils.
LISTopendata provides access to freely available soils data that is viewable in LISTmap and is provided in multiple proprietary formats.
Natural Values Atlas – Tasmania – The Natural Values Atlas provides authoritative and comprehensive information on Tasmania’s natural values and includes projects for Soils and GeoConservation. The Soils DB provides location, soil morphology and chemical information with standardised reports and data downloading available.
DPIPWE Website – Whole of Government website for soil information, maps, reports and management administered by the Tasmanian Department of Primary industries, Parks Water and Environment.
LandManagement.Enquiries@dpipwe.tas.gov.au – Whole of Government email address for soils related requests (including soils data, mapping and information).
Northern Territory
NRMaps contains an extensive range of natural resource related information, including soil profile data, land resource mapping and technical reports. Links to spatial downloads, technical reports and mapping products are also available here.
Soils of the Northern Territory factsheet is also available online.
Western Australia
NRInfo (Natural Resource information) provides you access to digital mapping and information for natural resources across Western Australia. Over 40 years of DPIRD soil, landscape and hydrological information is available, allowing users to gain a better understanding of the landscape. Direct Link to web portal.
The current information is routinely updated via the DPIRD’s corporate databases, and made available for download through the data.wa.gov.au open data policy. The original reports are also available through the research library, under the ‘Land Resources Series’ link.
CSIRO
The Northern Australia Water Resource Assessment program has delivered land suitability assessment across northern Australia. The CSIRO in collaboration with the governments of Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland have produced a range of soil and land suitability data which can be viewed here.
The input of the National Committee for Soils and Terrain (NCST) in preparing this list is kindly acknowledged.
Soil Science Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land and we pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future.