Harmonized World Soil Database
Harmonized World Soil Database V2.0
The Harmonized World Soil Database version 2.0 (HWSD v2.0) is a comprehensive global soil inventory that offers detailed insights into soil properties, including their morphology, chemistry, and physical characteristics, with a focus on a 1 km resolution. It's a valuable tool for research in areas like agriculture, food security, and climate change impacts.
Developed in 2008 by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the HWSD was a collaborative project involving other notable organizations like the International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC), the European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN), and the Institute for Soil Sciences at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The data was compiled and organized using a Geographic Information System (GIS) at IIASA. This collaborative effort ensured that the database was comprehensive and accurate. Subsequent updates were made in 2013 (HWSD v1.2) and in 2023 (HWSD v2.0).
HWSD v2.0 expands on its previous versions by including data from various national soil databases, offering detailed soil attributes for seven different soil layers (a significant increase from the two layers in HWSD v1.2), and adopting a consistent soil reference system combining FAO1990 standards with the World Reference Base for Soil Resources. In September 2023, a revised version of HWSD v2.0 was released. For detailed information on the updates in this version (v2.01).
The HWSD v2.0 features a GIS raster image file that is connected to a soil attribute database. This database provides comprehensive information on the composition of soil units in nearly 30,000 soil mapping units. The HWSD v2.0 Viewer, included with the database, automatically establishes this link, allowing easy access to both the soil attribute data and mapping information.
Harmonized World Soil Database V1.2
This is the result of a collaboration between the FAO with IIASA, ISRIC-World Soil Information, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISSCAS), and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC)
The Harmonized World Soil Database is a 30 arc-second raster database with over 15 000 different soil mapping units that combines existing regional and national updates of soil information worldwide (SOTER, ESD, Soil Map of China, WISE) with the information contained within the 1:5 000 000 scale FAO-UNESCO Soil Map of the World (FAO, 1971-1981).
The resulting raster database consists of 21600 rows and 43200 columns, which are linked to harmonized soil property data. The use of a standardized structure allows for the linkage of the attribute data with the raster map to display or query the composition in terms of soil units and the characterization of selected soil parameters (organic Carbon, pH, water storage capacity, soil depth, cation exchange capacity of the soil and the clay fraction, total exchangeable nutrients, lime and gypsum contents, sodium exchange percentage, salinity, textural class and granulometry).