Batjes, N.H.

Dijkshoorn, K.

Engelen, V.W.P., van

Fischer, G.

Jones, A.

Montanarela, L.

Nachtergaele, F.

Velthuizen, H., van

Verelst, L.

English

Name not available

The Harmonized World Soil Database

Wageningen Yield 

© 2010 19th World Congress of Soil Science, Soil Solutions for a Changing World 
1 – 6 August 2010, Brisbane, Australia.  Published on DVD. 
34
The harmonized world soil database 
 
Freddy NachtergaeleA, Harrij van VelthuizenB, LucVerelstB, Niels BatjesC, Koos DijkshoornC, Vincent van 
EngelenC, Guenther FischerB, Arwyn JonesD, Luca MontanarellaD, Monica PetriA, Sylvia PrielerB, Xuezheng 
ShiE, Edmar TeixeiraD and David WibergD. 
 
AFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy (FAO). 
BInternational Institute for Applied System Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria (IIASA). 
CISRIC-World Soil Information, Wageningen, The Netherlands. 
DInstitute for Soil Science- Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, P.R. China (ISSCAS). 
EJoint Research Centre of the European Commission Ispra, Italy (JRC). 
 
 
Abstract 
For more than 30 years the FAO/Unesco Soil map of the World has been the only harmonized source of 
global soil information. Recent updates and release of new soil information in all regions of the globe was an 
incentive to tackle the harmonization and integration of the new soil data. The task was undertaken by a 
consortium of institutes and organizations and resulted in a product with 30 arc second resolution that 
includes for each soil unit estimates for fifteen top- and subsoil properties. The data come with a viewer, are 
GIS compatible and are freely available on-line.  
 
Key Words 
Soil databases, world soil map. 
 
Background 
Soil information, from global to local scale, has often been the one missing biophysical information layer 
which absence added to the uncertainties of predicting potentials and constraints for food and fiber 
production. The lack of reliable and harmonized soil data has hampered considerably land degradation 
assessments, environmental impact studies and adapted sustainable land management interventions. For 
more than 30 years the FAO/Unesco Soil Map of the World (FAO/UNESCO 1971-1981), based on soil 
surveys and information collected in the nineteen sixties, was the only harmonized soil map available at a 
scale of 1:5 Million. It was recognized that the soil information in this map was deficient in many areas and 
should be improved.  At an international scale this was done for some regions since 1995 by FAO, ISRIC 
and UNEP under the SOTER programme (UNEP/ISSS/ISRIC/FAO 1993). However progress was slow and 
uneven. Soil information was also improved at national level in many countries, for instance in China (Shi et 
al. 2004); while a joint effort by USDA, the Dokuchaiev institute and the European Soil Bureau Network 
resulted in a harmonized Circumpolar Soil Map covering the Northern hemisphere up till 50°North 
(European Commission 2009). These recent updates and improvements justified this first attempt to 
harmonize this information in a unique product.  
 
Recognizing the urgent need for improved soil information worldwide and its immediate requirement for the 
Global Agro-ecological Assessment study, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 
(FAO) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) took the initiative of combining 
the recently collected  volumes of regional and national updates of soil information with the information 
already contained within the 1:5,000,000 scale FAO-UNESCO Digital Soil Map of the World 
(FAO/UNESCO 1995, 2003), into a new comprehensive Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD). This 
work was undertaken with the International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC) that together 
with FAO, is responsible for the development of regional soil and terrain databases and the WISE soil profile 
database; and with the European Soil Bureau Network, which had recently completed a major update of soil 
information for Europe and northern Eurasia (Lambert et al. 2003), and the Institute of Soil Science, Chinese 
Academy of Sciences which provided the recent 1:1,000,000 scale Soil Map of China.  
 
Characteristics of the harmonized world soil database 
The HWSD contains soil information at scales that vary by region from 1:1 Million in most SOTER, ESBN 
and China products to 1:5 million in the Soil map of the world. The Harmonized World Soil Database is 
produced in a uniform raster format with a 30arcsec resolution (1km). The total number of pixels in the map 
is 15. 
© 2010 19th World Congress of Soil Science, Soil Solutions for a Changing World 
1 – 6 August 2010, Brisbane, Australia.  Published on DVD. 
35
HWSD uses 4 distinct sources of data: 
1.  The European Soil Database (ESDB) extended with information of the Northern Circumpolar soil map at 
1:1 M scale. This database is considered of moderate reliability with an adequate scale but often lacking soil 
profile information. 
2.  The new Soil Map of China at scale 1:1 Million produced by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The 
database is considered of moderate reliability for the same reasons as the one above. 
3.  The SOTER databases mainly for Eastern, Central and Southern Africa, South America and the 
Caribbean and parts of Asia. This database is considered of moderate reliability in regions where the scale 
was smaller than 1:1 Million as is the case in South America and the Caribbean, Congo and Angola or where 
soil profiles were scarce such as in Mongolia, Egypt and Sudan. The database is considered of high 
reliability in areas where the scale of the original maps was 1:1 million or better and a complete soil profile 
database was available (Southern Africa, Central and Eastern Europe). 
4.  For the areas not covered by the above mainly West Africa, North America, South Asia, and Australia the 
“old” soil map of the world was re-interpreted. This part of the database is considered of low reliability.  
 
Soil Unit Composition of each grid (classified according to the FAO Revised Legend  (FAO 1990)) contains 
fifteen soil properties for topsoil (0-30cm) and subsoil (30-100cm) are automatically displayed and contained 
in the database / GIS layers based on legacy data and using simple taxon-transfer functions. This concerns 
the following parameters: Organic Carbon, pH(H2O), CECsoil, CECclay fraction, Total Exchangeable Bases 
(TEB), Base saturation %, ESP, Calcium carbonate, Gypsum, Sand fraction, Silt fraction, Clay fraction, ECe, 
USDA Texture, Reference Bulk Density, Soil Drainage, and Soil Phase information. 
 
Additional information contained in the HWSD as separate layers with different lower resolution (5 arc 
minutes) are: 
1.  Land cover/land use shares. This information is classified in seven classes: rain-fed cultivated land, 
Irrigated cultivated land, Forest land, Pasture land, Barren/slightly vegetated land, Water, Urban land). 
2.  Terrain slope and aspect distributions within each grid. This information is derived from digital elevation 
data produced by the NASA Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) with a 90 meter resolution. 
3.  Soil qualities for agriculture including Nutrient availability, Nutrient retention capacity, Rooting 
conditions, Oxygen availability, Excess salts, Toxicity and Workability. 
4.  Rural and urban population distribution. 
In addition a number of soil qualities can be derived using modeled relationships between soil properties. 
Examples are the organic carbon pool and the soil water holding capacity.(See Figure 2). 
 
 
Figure 1.  Sources of HWSD. 
 
© 2010 19th World Congress of Soil Science, Soil Solutions for a Changing World 
1 – 6 August 2010, Brisbane, Australia.  Published on DVD. 
36
 
Figure 2.  Soil moisture holding capacity derived from soil properties in HWSD. 
 
Conclusions and recommendations 
The completion of this comprehensive harmonized soil information will improve estimation of current and 
future land potential productivity, help identify land and water limitations, and enhance assessing risks of 
land degradation, particularly soil erosion. The HWSD contributes sound scientific knowledge for planning 
sustainable expansion of agricultural production and for guiding policies to address emerging land 
competition issues concerning food, energy and biodiversity. This is of critical importance for rational 
natural resource management and making progress towards achieving food security and sustainable 
agricultural development, especially with regard to the threats of global climate change and the need for 
adaptation and mitigation. 
 
The HWSD constitutes improvements for about 60% of the land area as compared to the FAO/UNESCO 
Soil Map of the World. The GlobalSoilMap.net (Sanchez et al. 2009) digital soil mapping project that will 
provide the global information system of the future is in his first year and completion for Sub-Saharan Africa 
let alone the World is some time off. Readily available databases such as those present in Australia, Canada 
and the United States can easily be transformed in a similar 30 arc sec product. In other regions such as West 
Africa and South Asia many countries have the soil maps and soil profile databases available to contribute to 
an expanded HWSD. On going discussions in the framework of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) 
aiming towards the development of a Global Soil Information System (GLOSIS) as a “system of systems of 
soil data and information” as part of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) have already 
identified a possible improved HWSD as an intermediate product to be complete at short term, prior to the 
final release of the future GlobalSoilMap.net (GEO 2009-2011 Work plan 2009). It is therefore strongly 
recommended that an initiative is launched to complete the HWSD based on existing legacy information. 
This in turn will be a solid basis on which future global digital soil mapping can build. 
 
References 
European Commission (2009) ‘Soil Atlas of the Northern Circumpolar Region’. (Eds A Jones A, V 
Stolbovoy, C Tarnocai, G Broll, O Spaargaren, L Montanarella). (Office of the Official Publications of 
the European Communities: Luxembourg). 
FAO/UNESCO (1971-1981) ‘Soil Map of the World’. Legend and 9 volumes. (UNESCO: Paris).  
FAO/UNESCO (1995, 2003) ‘The Digitized Soil Map of the World and Derived Soil Properties’ (version 
3.5). FAO Land and Water Digital Media Series 1. (FAO: Rome). 
GEO 2009-2011 Work Plan (2009) ‘Group on Earth Observations’. (GEO Secretariat: Geneva). 
Lambert JJ, Daroussin J, Emberck M, Le Bas C, Jamagne M, King D and Montanarella L (2003). ‘Soil 
Geographical Database for Eurasia & The Mediterranean. Instructions Guide for Elaboration at scale 
© 2010 19th World Congress of Soil Science, Soil Solutions for a Changing World 
1 – 6 August 2010, Brisbane, Australia.  Published on DVD. 
37
1:1,000,000’. Version 4.0 EUR 20422 EN JRC. (Ispra: Italy). 
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UNEP/ISSS/ISRIC/FAO (1993). ‘Global and National Soil and terrain Digital Databases (SOTER). 
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Digital Soil Map of the World.

Global and National Soil and terrain

Soil Atlas of the Northern Circumpolar Region’. (Eds A

Soil Map of the World’.

van Velthuizen, H.

van Engelen, V.W.P.

NARCIS 

The Harmonized World Soil Database

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