FAQ - WoSIS

WoSIS™ stands for ‘World Soil Information Service’, a large database based on PostgreSQL + API’s, workflows, dashboards etc., developed and maintained by ISRIC, WDC-Soils. It provides a growing range of quality-assessed and standardised soil profile data for the world. For this, it draws on voluntary contributions of data holders/providers worldwide.

The source data come from different types of surveys ranging from systematic soil surveys (i.e., full profile descriptions) to soil fertility surveys (i.e., mainly top 20 to 30 cm). Further, depending on the nature of the original surveys the range of soil properties can vary greatly (see here).

The quality-assessed and standardised data are made available freely to the international community through several webservices, this in compliance with the conditions (licenses or Letters of Agreement) specified by the various data providers.