What is the difference between SSURGO and STATSGO?
Rachel Young SSURGO is a more detailed, updated version of STATSGO, but the underlying classification systems and databases are very similar. The SSURGO data set is more detailed and consists of georeferenced digital map data and computerized attribute data.
What does SSURGO stand for?
Soil Survey Geographic database
SSURGO (Soil Survey Geographic database) refers to digital soils data produced and distributed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) – National Cartography and Geospatial Center (NCGC) in the United States.
What is STATSGO?
– The State Soil Geographic Data Base (STATSGO) was developed by the USDA Soil Conservation Service (now Natural Resource Conservation Service) to help achieve their mandate to collect, store, maintain, and distribute soil survey information for [TABULAR DATA FOR TABLE 1 OMITTED] U.S.
How is SSURGO data collected?
The SSURGO database contains information about soil as collected by the National Cooperative Soil Survey over the course of a century. The information was gathered by walking over the land and observing the soil. Many soil samples were analyzed in laboratories. The maps outline areas called map units.
What is tabular and spatial soil?
Soil data consists of spatial and tabular data. Spatial data consist of soil lines and symbols. Tabular data contain rows and columns of information about specific types of soil.
How do I download Ssurgo data?
Two options for downloading SSURGO data:
- Vermont Center for Geographic Information: Vermont Center for Geographic Information – State GIS Warehouse. To find all types of spatial data to download from VCGI, go to
- USDA / Web Soil Survey site. USDA NRCS Web Soil Survey.
What coordinate system does the NRCS use to distribute the Ssurgo data?
SSURGO data is only available from Web Soil Survey with a Geographic WGS 1984 coordinate system. Once the data has been downloaded, ‘SSURGO Management’ tools can be used to re-project the spatial data to other coordinate systems such as UTM (WGS 1984 or NAD 1983 datum only).
How can I download data from Web Soil Survey?
- Step 1 – Unzip. The file ‘soil_ca021. zip’ is a SSURGO export file downloaded from Web Soil Survey.
- Step 2 – Unzip the Microsoft Access database. The file ‘soildb_CA_2002.
- Step 3 – Import the tabular data. A) Open the unzipped database ‘soildb_CA_2002.
