USDA Announces New Web Soil Survey Site

The U. S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service has announced the launch of the USDA Web Soil Survey Site. The website provides a variety of national soils information that is critical for land developers, farmers, home buyers, and city planners. The site features a simple but powerful new tool for accessing and analyzing soils data. Simply click on the "Web Soil Survey" link to get started.

When viewers visit the web soil survey, they are asked to "define" a geographic area of interest by selecting a state and county or just by highlighting an area or areas. Once a location has been defined and projected on the screen, the viewer has the choice to print the map and related information, save it to their hard drive or download the data for use in a geographic information system (GIS). The viewer can also "explore" the designated location for specific soils data giving the viewer important information on soil suitability in relationship to usage.

The 1968 Spokane County soil survey is now available using the web tool. With the exception of some areas of public and tribal land, most of Washington State's private land can be queried for soils information. The soil survey currently underway will be available through the USDA site as soon as the survey work is complete.

The soil survey site is available at: http://soils.usda.gov/survey

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