Soil's superpower at your fingertips
A new NSW Government app, 'Soils Near Me', brings the science of soil to the public, a vital tool to share soil and land information.
Why is soil important?
All living things, everything we eat and most of what we wear ultimately come from soil and water, and soil is in many ways the unseen part of the equation. Soil is a living thing, and its health is vital to our ability to survive.
"Soil is visible, but it's not front of mind for many people," says Senior Scientist with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, Humphrey Milford. "But it is vitally important."
He says the structure and composition of soil determines what can be done on a piece of land, whether you can build or grow something on it or whether it will be suitable to support services like underground cables, powerlines, roads or railways.
Despite its importance, very few people truly appreciate soil's importance or the technical know-how to interpret soil data. A new app, Soils Near Me, released by the Department of Planning and Environment, aims to change that.
"It is democratising this information, getting it out of the hands of a few technicians and into the hands and heads of the broader community," says Humphrey Milford.
New soil app for easy access
Soils Near Me takes the most widely accessed datasets from the NSW Government's online soil information system eSPADE to provide information on soil type, land and soil capability and the risk of encountering acid sulfate soil.
You can use Soils Near Me to explore the soils where you are or tunnel into any location in New South Wales. The land and soil capability groups landscape and soil hazards together to tell you how capable the land and soil are of being developed without significant problems being encountered. Soil types are explained in terms of their basic characteristics and fertility. If users wish to build on this foundational knowledge, the app links to more technical soil information on eSPADE.
The app also highlights the risk of encountering acid sulfate soils which are a risk in Australia's coastal regions and a global soil problem. These soils come from old mangrove swamps and become dangerously acidic when exposed to air.
In general, New South Wales has a great diversity of soil types, with the most productive soils in the southern hemisphere and some of the most nutrient-poor. Humphrey Milford says, "Protecting our productive soils from being damaged by the wrong kind of use is an important reason for arming the public with this information."
"Even good soils are not invulnerable and can be damaged by over-cultivation or salinity," he said. "A healthy soil is very different to an unhealthy one, and what you do with a healthy soil can have a real impact on how healthy it stays."
Download the app from the App Store and Google Play for free and start exploring the soils near you.
