Provincial soil map renewal in Ontario: Honouring …csss.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/r5-Aspinall_CLRN2012 .pdfHonouring legacy mapping through innovative predictive approaches

Ontario Agricultural Land Resource Information (OALRI) - Presentation No. 2012-06

Provincial soil map renewal in Ontario:

Honouring legacy mapping through innovative predictive approaches

Ontario ALRI Presentation No. 2012-06

Stewart J. Sweeney, B.Sc. (Hons.), M.Sc., Ph.D.

and

J. Douglas Aspinall, B.Sc.

Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs,

Resource Information and Business Services Unit,

Environmental Management Branch

June 03, 2012

Ontario’s Soil Mapping - The Legacy

Ontario has a long history of soil survey work that serves

as a strong foundation for its agricultural and

environmental future.

• Hundredth anniversary of soil map development for the province of

Ontario is fast approaching (2014).

• Active soil survey for more than eight decades produced over 150

printed soil survey reports, maps, and summary documents (141 of these are

available at the CanSIS “Soil Surveys of Ontario” web site;

http://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/publications/surveys/on/index.html).

http://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/publications/surveys/on/index.html


Ontario’s mapping pedologists have been innovators who

changed many aspects of both their soil mapping

approaches and map products over the years.

• They adapted to incorporate the newest approaches, taxonomy renewal

and technology developments that occurred during their mapping project

time periods.

• Their legacy of soil map products testifies to this evolving science.


Geospatial technology advances have been assimilated

into Ontario’s soil mapping approaches as they became

available.

• Aerial photography and interpretation techniques forever changed the

approaches to soil mapping campaign planning, field reconnaissance and final

map development.




available.

• Computer-based geographic information system (GIS) implementation

ushered in new era for soil mapping and map presentation to users.

• This landmark technology development has forever changed Ontario soil

map product development, presentation and possibilities. Pedologists now

had the power to represent and extrapolate their field and

photogrammetric observations like never before.

• Ontario’s most recent county-level soil map versions were all digitized.

• These products have become the dominant means through which

geospatial soil information is accessed, analyzed and presented by a

broad range of users.

Geospatial technology advances have been assimilated into Ontario’s soil mapping approaches as they became available.

•1982, access to CanSIS detailed profile data base, flat files

•1983, first desktop computer

•Late 80’s, OMAFRA acquired GIS, digitizing tables, began converting paper maps to digital

•1985 OMAFRA purchased a Giddings soil corer, over 1000 described and analyzed soil profiles collected from 60 fields

•1986 Total Station used to collect elevation data on 10 x 10 m grids in farm fields

•Early 90’s, eastern county soil map upgrades using Provincial DEM to disaggregate legacy polygons (slope)

•Oxford county soil survey upgrade, sample sites located with GPS, 100’ accuracy

Geospatial technology advances have been assimilated into Ontario’s soil mapping approaches as they became available. •1994, Kent County, last conventional soil survey in Ontario published

•1995, OMAFRA acquired 2 hand held GPS units

• 1995/6,Ontario Institute of Ontario and GIS phased out

• RTK to collect elevation data on farm fields

• 2000, use of LandMapR software to segment farm fields

• 2001, GIS unit re-established in OMAFRA

• Provincial/Federal agreement to make improvements to the Ontario soil map component files

•2005 – first LiDAR acquisition




available.

• Digital elevation model (DEM) development was another pivotal

geomatics technology innovation for soil survey work.

• This geospatial terrain information resource permits the mapping pedologist

to examine and analyze the soil landscape in ways never before available.

Suddenly, pedologists had new, detailed three-dimensional observational

power limited only by the accuracy and resolution of the DEM’s

• Lidar acquistions: FEMA standards, 1-2 points/meter sq., leaf off conditions,

post snow

Legacy Soil Maps- County Boundary Issues

Bruce County, 1954

Huron County, 1952

Grey County, 1954

Wellington County, 1963

Truncated polygons

Textural phase differences

Soil series differences

Spatial displacement

1:63,360


10

Soil Map Issues

Lambton County

Middlesex County

1:63,360 1:50,000

11

Issue:

Simple vs Complex

Map units

“Pc”

80% Perth clay

20% inclusions

“HU6/b”

60% Perth sicl

40% Brookston sicl




available.

• Sometimes advances in geospatial technology applications were both

a blessing and a curse. It wasn’t until Ontario soil scientists overlaid the

county-level digital soil map products on the first provincial DEM that it was

discovered that the digitizing process had distorted and shifted soil map

unit polygons from their “concept” positions.

• This issue is not trivial as many Ontario regulations for land use

planning and environmental issues (nutrient management) lean on the

“modern” digital soil classification maps and allied soil property

derivatives for boundary delineation.


Problem:

Spatial registration

Shifted Polygons

Durham Soil Map

1948

1:126,720

Ontario’s Soil Mapping - The Present

New geospatial technology applications and innovations

are shaping Ontario’s soil map renewal approaches.

• The big question... how can the issues with the first wave of digital

technology applications to Ontario’s soil map presentation be addressed

in a systematic, time efficient and cost-effective way - with the existing

pedology staff expertise and compliment?

• The long process of Ontario soil map renewal has begun.

• After several years of systematic assessment and incremental projects, the

acquisition of high-resolution DEM’s (with sub-metre vertical accuracies)

was determined to be “mission critical” for moving forward with Ontario’s

soil map renewal efforts.

• These DEM’s are the foundation for Ontario’s new Predictive Digital Soil

Mapping (PDSM) approach that is being developed and implemented.


Honouring Ontario’s legacy of soil mapping in shaping the

soil map renewal approaches.

• All of Ontario’s legacy soil map products have scale dependancies and

somewhat smoothed soil unit boundary lines. Protocols were followed for

a specific number of field site inspection points per areal land unit - depending

on the final map product scale target. This cartographic constraint

traditionally “ruled” the Ontario soil mapping process.

• GIS technology has the ability to store and present data sets, developed

at different scales, concurrently. This is both a blessing and a curse for

OMAFRA in providing soil map information publicly through this medium.

• Many Ontario digital soil map product users do not understand map

scale significance and constraints. Legacy “1 inch to 1 mile” (1:63,360) soil

map information is often used at the farm property/field level for an agricultural

production, environmental or property development issue.




• Ontario’s soil map renewal process has been freed from the former

cartographic constraints through the adoption of a “multi-scale, nested

hierarchy” approach.

• Map production at a range of spatial scales is now a straightforward

cartographic process - not the “driver” in limiting geospatial soil map

information development.

• Soil map products can now be made available at the field-specific

management level for farmers as well as at scales ranging upwards to the

1:50,000 regional planning scale.




• The legacy knowledge and contributions of Ontario’s pedologists, over

their many years of active soil survey contributions, are honoured as faithfully

as is possible in the map renewal process.

• The hypothesis used in this renewal process is that the legacy soil map

information is essentially correct. The original “soil concept” is

honoured for all named soil series.

• The legacy soil series classification for each geographic location is

maintained until it is tested against this “soil concept”.

• If rejected for that classification, it is assigned an appropriate

classification based on how closely its characteristics match the “soil

concept” for a different soil series.




• Rule sets for these legacy “soil concepts” drive the inference engine

for the new Predictive Digital Soil Mapping (PDSM) process.

• This new PDSM approach leans heavily on the pedologist’s ability to

segment the soil landscape - as it is rendered in the high-resolution DEM -

and to develop rule sets that identify logical soil unit boundaries.

• Over the past several years, Ontario PDSM soil map renewal pilot

projects were launched in several locations with DEM’s derived through

different means.

• Initial efforts focused on an area with the current provincial DEM (vertical

accuracy on the order of 2.5m). This effort showed promise but did not have

sufficient vertical accuracy to adequately map the required terrain

features where relief differences are subtle.

Comparison of Lidar and

Provincial DEM

LiDAR Provincial

LandMapR segmentation


LiDAR-derived Digital Elevation Model (DEM)

1m X 1m Pixels; 10cm vertical accuracy

Ontario’s Soil Mapping - The Future

Moving forward with Ontario’s soil map renewal...

• Subsequent PDSM mapping efforts for areas with high-resolution

DEM’s (sub-metre vertical accuracies) have yielded excellent results.

-RTK-derived DEM’s on farm fields

-First-ever broad-coverage, sub-metre accuracy DEM for the Greater Toronto

Area (GTA 2002)

- Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)-derived DEM’s for sub-watershed

area land blocks (acquired incrementally since 2005). These LiDAR data

cloud specifications for better than 10cm vertical accuracies and 1-2 ground

points per square metre (minimum).

• These PDSM approaches have shaped Ontario’s current soil map

renewal program.

Digital Elevation Model

Footprints

LiDAR

GTA

Provincial Lake Simcoe

Southern Lake

Simcoe

Watershed Area

38 tiles

9x9 km

2 km overlap


9km X 9km Tile

Legacy

Soil

Polygons

Soil Property Maps

Soil Property Mapping


Farm field-specific

RTK-based DEM PDSM

A LiDAR-derived DEM for a

coastal Lake Huron ravine



LiDAR-derived DEM - 10cm vertical accuracy, 1m X 1m

- Processed at 5m X 5m for digital

soil mapping

- Hydrology enforced and conditioned

- Collaged into 8km X 8km tiles for

landscape segmentation

Rondeau legacy on Lidar

Legacy Digital

Soil Map

• circa 1996

• 64 km2 area

of Chatham-Kent

• 1:50,000 (original)

• Polygons crafted

for individual soil

series and for

composite soil

series (60%/40%)

for two “dominant”

soil series but the

term “dominant”

was only loosely

defined.

Rondeau Bay

Legacy Polygons and

Dissaggregated Polygons

Ontario Agricultural Land Resource Inventory (AgRI) - Presentation No. 2012-06

So what have we learned?

• Current provincial soil mapping is at a range of spatial scales, has continuity

issues at county-level soil survey report boundaries, and has soil unit polygons that

were displaced and distorted during the digitizing process. - Significant

improvements are possible - but require time and resources • The Provincial digital elevation model DEM) was developed at a coarse resolution that significantly “blurs” important landscape detail at the farm and stream-reach scale. - Significantly better DEM’s can be developed (ex. LiDAR) • Soil map renewal is aided by monitoring agriculture landscapes in seasonal field campaigns to develop strong “ground truth” data sets for various farm activities (cropping systems, tillage systems, yield monitor data sets, etc.). Nothing confirms soil map accuracy like the success of farming activities across the landscape - Significant value can be added with remote sensing analyses



• Ontario’s current soil map renewal program

1) A common suite of soil map legend colours has been incrementally

developed for all named soil series and phases in the province.

- This GIS map layer product will be available within this fiscal year - complete

with a metadata layer.

- It gives a “standardized thematic look and feel” to the presentation of the

soil classification resource information.

- It will aid in the rapid interpretation of similarities and differences of

Ontario’s soils at local, regional and provincial scales.

- Resulting “standardized” soil map products will start to permeate

agricultural, environmental and planning reports over time. This will

facilitate soil knowledge transfer and significantly enhance

understanding of the value of the provincial asset that is the Ontario soil

map information.

Ontario Agricultural Land Resource Inventory (AgRI) - Presentation No. 2012-06

Progress towards a

Standardized

Ontario Soil Series

Colour Legend


Ginseng 2009

Ginseng

2006

Rye

2006


Corn 2009

Soybeans 2009

Rye 2009 - post-harvest



Ontario Land Agricultural Resource Information (OALRI) - Presentation No. 2012-06


County

Boundary


Tobacco 2009

Conventional Tillage on sandy soils - late Spring 2009


Corn 2009

Soybeans 2009

Winter Wheat 2009




2) Increased utilization of remote sensing imagery, from a range of

satellites, at a range of spatial resolutions and spectral characteristics - all

provide valuable input to the PDSM approach.

November 12, 2011

Southern Ontario’s

First Dusting of Snow!

MODIS Terra 250m image; November 12, 2011

March 11, 2012

Southern Ontario’s

Last Winter Snow

MODIS Terra 250m image; March 11, 2012




3) Derivative products will include soil erosion model results at a range of

spatial scales.

- OMAFRA RUSLE2 pilot project has been launched

- OMAFRA GeoWEPP modelling has been ongoing for several years on

selected sentinel subwatersheds


“Within-field” scale modelling results displayed on the LiDAR-derived DEM

Soil Erosion Modelling with GeoWEPP



• Several key issues have to be addressed.

- Ontario, like all Canadian provinces, has a soil-based agricultural

economy and yet the foundational knowledge and talent to craft the

critical soil classification maps from which all other derivatives (pH, organic

matter, hydrologic properties, etc.) come has steadily declined to

unsustainable levels - who will carry on important this work into the

future?

- A long-standing arrangement (signed MOU) between Ontario and Canada

for soil science talent collaboration has all but been forgotten in the recent

provincial and federal government agricultural science restructuring.

- Ontario pedology instruction and research - particularly at the University of

Guelph - is no longer supported sufficiently to contribute to soil resource

information development and map product renewal.



• Some final words of caution and encouragement...

- soil mapping in Ontario must not become “just a GIS mouse-clicking

exercise”. Some may now believe that all of the soil information ever needed

resides in the provincial databases and that all soil polygons are correctly

portrayed. We know that in Ontario, like all other provinces, this is simply not

the case.

- GIS skill does not replace that of the pedologist - it augments it.

Manipulating soil information into polygons of many sizes and shapes can be

done by anyone with GIS skill. Whether or not they make any “real” sense is

the issue.

- The role and relevance of the pedologist is far from over in Ontario. The

challenge is to make this known where and with whom it matters to revive and

restore this discipline. PDSM offers part of this pathway towards a

sustainable solution. Thank you.


Beef Farm 2011

Corn 2011

Alfalfa 2011

Muskrat Creek - Salem Creek area - Northern Huron - Southern Bruce

Thank You!

Documents

Provincial soil map renewal in Ontario: Honouring …csss.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/r5-Aspinall_CLRN2012 .pdfHonouring legacy mapping through innovative predictive approaches