SoilWeb is an interactive map that allows a user to pan around the US and explore USDA-NCSS soil survey data, which is available for most of the country, save a few remote areas. In a world where decision making is based on the best available information from a country’s leading research institution, a resource like SoilWeb is an excellent resource for decision-makers and curious citizens alike to see, learn, and plan environmental practices around available information on soil. Soil web is a project that was founded at UC Davis’s California Soul Resource Lab with the support of the USDA. The data collected mainly consists of geochemical and mineralogical data, delineated on the surface of the map by yellow lines that roughly mark the boundaries of different types of soil categorization. SoilWeb is a valuable tool for land management offices and various levels of government to make decisions about development, environmental remediation, conservation, and any number of other applications that require knowledge about ground conditions. Even though the map is viewable on the web, data can also be exported to a personal computer for manipulation. The apparent drawback of SoilWeb appears to be that it isn’t clear how recent the data is, how often or if the data is updated, which can be an issue for making more dynamic regulation and the best possible decisions.
“SoilWeb: An Online Soil Survey Tool.” UC Davis. Accessed July 22, 2020. https://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/
Categories
Data, Ecological Modelling, Ecological Monitoring, Industry/Natural Commodities, Monitoring, Regulation
Air Pollution Robot
The dangers of air pollution to human health are well documented, though the traditional methodology of collecting and reporting on sample lags behind the need to keep abreast and regulate air pollution in a meaningful amount of time. The use of drones and robots have been identified by researchers as resources that can be tweaked […]
Artificial Life, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Industry/Natural Commodities, Lifestyle, Monitoring
Telematic Rivers
Erica Kermani’s artwork seeks to answer a central question: if rivers were seeing an equal, living entity, would humans take issues like climate change threatening them more seriously? In his year-long art exhibition in 2017, Kermani, in collaboration with Diana Salcedo & Jeana Chesnik, created a new forum of interaction between humans and rivers to […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies
Co-occupied Boundaries
Art is easily found in nature but rarely is what considered art today inherently natural. The concept of co-occupied mediums that serve to be both functional for nature and aesthetically pleasing to people is being actively explored by Asya Ilgun and Phil Ayres, from the CITAstudio at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. In […]
Climate Change, Ecological Monitoring, Lifestyle, Monitoring, Pollution, Visual Technologies