Scotland’s Soils Website

Ricardo-AEA

© Ricardo-AEA Ltd

www.ricardo-aea.com

Willie Towers, Xingyu Xiao, Stuart Sneddon and many many others

Scotland’s Soils Website

© Ricardo-AEA LtdRicardo-AEA in Confidence2

Aim and Objectives

• To develop and test a pilot Scottish soils website (SSDW) with a small group of public bodies in Scotland.

• The project had several steps:• Design a pilot website and populate with a small number of datasets• Hold a stakeholder workshop, analyse the feedback and upgrade site accordingly

(within reason….)• Establish a User Group to test upgraded version of the site• Convene a User Group meeting, share experiences and prioritise upgrades (within

reason….)• Produce enhanced website


Groups involved in the project

• Steering Group: Scottish Government, SEPA, SNH, Forestry Commission Scotland, Ricardo-AEA and Macaulay Scientific Consulting

• Editorial Group: Representatives from SEPA, SNH, Macaulay Scientific Consulting and Ricardo-AEA

• User Group: Range of Stakeholders representing regulators, industry, consultancy, academia, government and NGOs

Discussions were also held with various potential data providers


Website: First draft

• Two datasets agreed with Steering Group:– 1:250,000 national scale soil map

• Underpinned by the Scottish Soils Knowledge and Information Base (SSKIB)

– National Soils Inventory• A grid based point sample across

Scotland, a key component of the full Scottish Soil Database


1:250 000 Soil map Soil map legend

Association Map unit Series % code

Perterhead 429 Blackhouse 100 61004

430 Peterhead 100 61006

Rowanhill etc 444 Macmerry 50 71015

Caprington 50 71004

445 Caprington 100 71004

SERIES HORIZON DEPTH pH CARBON SUM BASES

Caprington Ap 28 6.1 3.8 14.4

Bg 50 6.2 1 10.8

BCg 70 6.1 0.9 12.6

Cg 100 6.2 0.96 13.6

Information(median or mean etc)Knowledge

• For both cultivated and semi-natural soils• ≈2500 horizons• ≈ 530 soil Series• Statistical summaries• Use of analogues where data missing

mssg

Association


Profile name:Grid reference: Surveyor: Sample date:Altitude:Slope description:Aspect & bearing:Rocks and boulders:Vegetation:Flushing:Site drainage:Soil drainage:Erosion:Association/ Series: Parent material:Major soil subgroup:Rock type:Climate:Land Capability AgricultureBase of pit:Bulk samples:

Scottish soil database:Each soil profile has up to 100 attributes

LABNOSYMBOLLOSS ON IGNITIONCALCIUMMAGNESIUMSODIUMPOTASSIUMHYDROGENSUMSATNpHCARBONNITROGENOMTOTPACET_PTOPBOTTOMSANDSILTCLAY

SYMBOLDEPTH COLOUR MOTTLES TEXTURE STRUCTURE MOISTURE CONSISTENCE ROOTS STONES BOUNDARY

Ap

Bs

C


Stakeholder workshop – February 2013

• Objectives:• Introduction to the website• Identify potential user expectations• Identify potential additional datasets.

• Around 40 delegates from various constituencies• A number of presentations including three from potential/actual users with varying levels

of background knowledge in soils and uses of the data• Consultancy• Local Authority• Central Scotland Forest Trust

• 4 breakout groups and a structured questionnaire for completion later



• Key themes– Different users preferred different

scales of data dependent on need– Many users preferred themed or

derived maps, not raw data– Range of functions requested;

download, options for searching….



• Need for information about the data at different levels; metadata, descriptions, glossary

• Structure straightforward and easy to navigate

• Contextual information• Site not just about data• How much do people want to

know about soil?• Varied across different types of

user


Next phase of development – our Response

• Additional datasets prioritised by Steering Group and added• a. Topsoil Organic Carbon Content• b. Available Water Capacity• c. Land Capability for Agriculture (1:250,000)• d. Soil Texture (for differentiating within NVZs) • e. World Reference Base (WRB) classification• f. Soil carbon richness map (from SNH)

• Additional functions added• Search by National Grid Reference or Postcode• Use OS backdrop rather than Bing

• Contextual data radically restructured around State of Soil reporting• We tried to tell a more coherent ‘story’

• Glossary, FAQs and Library populated with examples to prompt reaction • User Group established


• Status of Scotland’s soil– Key facts– Soil functions– Soils and ecosystems– Soil protection and policy

• What are the issues?– Threats to soils– Pressures on soil– Prospects for Scotland’s soil


Website User Group

• Established based on volunteers from workshop questionnaire and tapping into networks

• Good cross-section from across potential user groups

• Tested site over summer 2013 and Group met in late August


User group – examples of feedback and actions taken

So the site had developed considerably since conception to birth, and like all websites, is a work in progress

Website pages Main themes of feedback Actions takenGeneral comments ‘Nice and simple, clean, easy

to navigate through, slightly old fashioned’.

Structure determined by SEWeb design and retained.

Language and terminology ‘Recognise the difficulty and I can live with it’

Different versions of some material e.g. classification and data descriptions

Data Requests for a range of other datasets, including single attribute maps/plots

Discussed with Steering Group, additional datasets prioritised and added to website

Functionality Map overlay, additional search facilities, location marker, data download….

Implemented according to priorities and resources

Glossary Additional terms suggested. New terms added and defined: we welcome more


Web design and structure

• A daughter website to Scotland’s environment – So required a similar feel to it– Style Guide provided by Scotland’s environment development team

So over to Stuart…..


• Information analysis of user groups and stakeholders of the website and their needs

• Website design to meet the needs

• Development of the future proof IT solution of environmental data management system

Environmental data management solution


Policy maker

General public?

AcademicSoil

scientist Farmer

Environmental organisations PlannerStudent

User groups of the soil website and their needs

The soils of Scotland are an important national resource and the properties and distributionof different soil types across the country provides essential information to a wide range ofstakeholders

Data

Information


• Information about soil– Reports– Relevant resources– What public could be involved– Soil types– Soil physical and chemical properties– Soil organic matter– Links to information about soil in rest of

world– trends, spatial information– Etc…..

• Data – Of a location, area– Data in different format:

• in tables• csv, • shape files, • web feature services

• Maps– Interactive soil maps– Images– Web map services

Needs for information from user groups


Needs of data by remote system

– The website is a daughter website of SEWeb

– The data needs to be managed locally and accessible remotely by other system.

– The service of the data needs to be standard compliant.


Stakeholder of the website and their needs

• Data providers– Enable user to access and use the data in a

scientific manner • Academic/Educational users

– Carry out the study and publish their research findings

• Scientific community– Access the information and identify potential

new data source • Environmental portal designers(SEWEB)

– Interoperability between the database component of Scotland’s Soils Website and SEWEB

Scottish Government • Support all the stake holders• Evidence based

policy making• Information transparency policy


SEWeb

Scotland’s Soils Website

Data from MSC/SNH/FSC

Directly access data from BGS

3rd Party provide

datasets by WMS, or WFS

Air website

AQ data providers

Water website

System architecture – hybrid of portal data and distributed management system

Store Key data sets in SS

database

WSM/WFS

Interactive with SEWeb via simplified WMS

Type 1: User access data via SSDW Type 2: User access data from source website

The data sets in Type 2 can be moved to Type 1 either loaded to the SSDW database or made it accessible for SSDW in WMS/WFS in the future


Illustration of the database structure of the Scottish Soil website and codes lists

Database table Description Supporting website functionweb map Store navigation items and structure,

metadata of the pagenavigation

web network content Store link the navigation item to its content Access static contentWeb content Store content of each page contentNSIS codes/ soil codes Code lists for NSIS and 1:250,000 soil map Mapping dataSoil group Soil classification Content

Database table Description Supporting website functionuser User account for admin area User controlroles User role type Set user with different level of access to admin

areaRole type Store content of each page Different level of access to admin areaFunction/security Code lists for NSIS and 1:25,0000 soil map Control user access to the admin functionUser auth log User log Monitoring activityData user User details of data download User details of data downloadPostcode location Postcode and spatial location Data searchDocuments News or report details Manage news and reportsDocument category/file type Classification of report Control where the report display on the web page


22

System design


Simple user register Confirm the T&SDownload data

stored on SSDD or service provider

Workflow of data download for data type 1

User view the signpost

Divert to 3rd party data access location

Download data from the location and local

T&S

Workflow of data download for data type 2


Website front end design

http://www.soils-scotland.gov.uk/

• Structure the website according to most user’s needs

• The summary information available at top level, detailed and deeper information available as links

• User data visualisation whenever it is possible

• Offer different data access options




Site launched December 10th 2013

• A larger and more coherent website

• A more logical and clearer tab structure

• More internal and external links

• But we want it to be used and we welcome feedback


Potential future developments?• Additional datasets

– site was designed around three basic types of data: soil maps, point data and derived data so that additions could be made• 1:25,000 scale soil maps• Forestry Commission 1:10,000 scale map• National Soils Inventory_2 (2007-2009)• Peat survey data• BGS urban (Glasgow) and stream sediment data• Trend data e.g. Countryside Survey or Trends in Pollution in Scottish Soils (TIPPS)

• Derived data• Soil leaching potential• Groundwater vulnerability • Nitrous oxide emissions from soils• Metal binding capacity…..

• Contextual information needs periodic review and updating.


With thanks to:

• Scottish Government for funding• Steering Group, Editorial Group and User Group for their support• Colleagues at the James Hutton Institute• Colleagues at Ricardo-AEA

I hope the website makes you think about land in a different way and provides the stimulus for you to visit soils in the field.

© Ricardo-AEA Ltd

www.ricardo-aea.com

T:E: W:

Ricardo-AEA LtdDr Xingyu Xiao, Dr Stuart Sneddon

+44 (0)870 190 [email protected], [email protected] www.ricardo-aea.com www.hutton.ac.uk

Mr Willie TowersMacaulay Scientific Consulting Ltd

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.ricardo-aea.com/

http://www.hutton.ac.uk/


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Scotland’s Soils Website

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Transcript of Scotland’s Soils Website