Establishment of digital soil map of Slovenia in the scale 1:25,000

Abstract

The proper management of soils as a natural and economic resource is of utmost importance. Policies that promote sustainable agriculture and ensure protection of groundwater, forest and natural ecosystems have to be based on reliable soil information. The spatial digital soil databases offer basic soil information which is essential for the determination of soil production potentials for different land uses, soil degradation hazard predictions, and preparations of protective measures. The Centre for Soil and Environmental Science started the establishment of the digital soil map of Slovenia early in the 1990s. By the end of January 1999, all of Slovenia was included in an operative digital soil map in the scale 1:25,000 (DSM25), providing a wealth of information on Slovenian soils. In this paper, the structure and basic attributes of DSM25 are presented. We also discuss two additional soil information layers associated with DSM25: These are the GIS soil profiles and soil pollution point data.