FAO-CSIC Multilingual Soil Profile Database

SDBm Plus  is a software package designed to harmonize, store and use large amounts of geo-referenced soil profile data, elaborated in the field and the laboratory, in an efficient and systematic way. The soil profile database can be utilized regardless of  scale, at regional, national or local level. The main characteristics of this database are the following: 1) software development for WINDOWS platforms; 2) multilingual functionality with automatic translation from English, as source language, to Spanish, French and German); 3) detailed soil profile characterization following the conventional  procedures of soil survey as documented in the 1990 FAO Guidelines for Soil Description; 4) possibility of monitoring the temporal variability of analytical, physical and hydraulic soil properties. The software is available from FAO in CD-ROM version but is no longer available on-line. SDBM Plus was designed for older 32-bit Windows versions and cannot run in 64-bit mode.

The continuing useful components of SDBM Plus are the translation tables  in 4 languages which contain the standard terminology for the following soil-related themes: (1)soil classification according to the systems of FAO 1974, FAO 1990, WRB 1998, USDA 1987; (2) landforms and topography; (3) land use and vegetation; (4) parent materials; (5) surface characteristics (stones, rock outcrops, erosion/deposition, surface sealing); (6) soil-water relationships (drainage, flooding, water table type and depth). The translation tables related to the detailed soil profile description terminology cover the following characteristics: horizon boundary, soil color, mottling,  texture, coarse fragments, structure, consistency, stickiness, plasticity, porosity, cutans, cementation, nodules, roots, biological features, and soil reaction. As the majority of these characteristics are retained in the updated FAO Guidelines for Soil Description 2006 the translation tables can be used in conjunction with this publication.