County Soil Maps

Irish Soil Information System

The Irish Soil Information System, was launched on Monday 15 September at Johnstown Castle by Minister Brendan Howlin.

The Irish Soil Information System is a map and an open access database which has been brought together using traditional and cutting-edge technologies. Until recently, approximately half of Ireland had been mapped in detail by the National Soil Survey of An Foras Talúntais, in the form of detailed county soil maps. The General Soils Map, based on an amalgamation of soils information from the 12 detailed county maps and an understanding of the soil landscape relationships existing in areas previously not surveyed in detail, did not meet current and emerging needs. The Irish Soil Information System has been co-funded as part of the STRIVE programme of the Environmental Protection Agency and coordinated by Teagasc, in collaboration with Cranfield University (UK) and University College Dublin. The objectives of this project were: (1) to develop a new soil map for Ireland at 1:250,000 scale; (2) to identify new and existing soils; and, (3) to provide a detailed description and classification system for all the soil types present in Ireland. This resulting map forms the basis of the soil information system for Ireland and is publicly available at http://soils.teagasc.ie

The system allows the user to zoom in on any area to a 1:250,000 scale and see the soil association associated with any area on the map and gives a listing of the soil types associated with that association.

The new soils map and information system will be an invaluable tool in developing solutions for sustainable land management and the agri-environment into the future. Practical examples of the utility of the Irish Soil Information System map for policy and practice include:

• the facilitation of a migration from Tier 1 to Tier 3 GHG reporting to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
• to delineate Areas of Natural Constraints (DAFM)
• the facilitation of the development of soil-specific nutrient advice by soil subgroup
• the facilitation of the development of targeted and context-specific agri-environmental schemes
• the identification of priority areas and more targeted actions in the on-going development and review of the River Basin District Management Plan.
• Assisting advisers and assessing soil types in developing most appropriate solutions to drainage problems

A special issue of T-Research has been produced to coincide with the launch

TResearch-Soils-special

http://gis.teagasc.ie/soils/

Soil Maps

The National Soil Survey (NSS) was based in An Foras Talúntais (forerunner organisation to Teagasc) from which the main outputs consisted of:

- Mapping individual counties at 1:127,560 scale for 44% of the country

- General Soil Map of Ireland and National Peatland map, both at 1:575,000 scale

The scale of these maps is an important consideration for their use and therefore can only be considered to provide a reconnaissance overview of the area surveyed. The maps are now available as PDF for free download from the links below: