Obtaining Soil Type Data


The EPA has divided the United States into hydrologic units and assigned each one a HUC (hydrologic unit code).  In order to download land use data for an area, you first need to know its HUC.

to obtain the HUC number for your watershed.
The EPA provides the "Locate Your Watershed" site to help users determine their region's HUC.
to obtain the land use data from the EPA HUC index.
The EPA offers land use shapefiles.

Need additional help obtaining soil type data from the EPA?
Click here to go to the BASINS Metadata website.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) supports the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).  A website they have developed is the National Cartography and Geospatial Center (NCGC).  Supplied on this website are numerous links and descriptions of geospatial datasets.  Through these links it is possible to acquire soil type data maps from the two main soils databases; STATSGO, and SSURGO.

State Soil Geographic (STATSGO) Database

 

Details:
 

  • Database product files in three formats:

    1. USGS Digital Line Graphs (DLG-3)

    2. ArcInfo 7.0 Coverage

    3. GRASS 4.13 Vector

  • Coordinate systems are:

    • Albers Conical Equal - Area: Continental U.S. and Alaska

    • UTM Zone 4: Hawaii

    • UTM Zone 19: Puerto Rico

  • Resolution at 1:250K scale, except Alaska (1:1M).

  • Complete coverage of U.S. and includes Puerto Rico.

  • Data files are downloadable in zip file compression.

  • Downloads are free (no cost).

to obtain STATSGO soil type data from the NRCS.

Need additional help obtaining soil type data (STATSGO format) from the NRCS?

 

Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) Database

It is possible to obtain SSURGO data from the NRCS by two methods.  The first is the Soil Data Mart.  The other is through the Geospatial Data Gateway.  Both are accessible on the NCGC website.

Soil Data Mart is a data request site supported by the United Sates Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).  From Soil Data Mart you can place orders requesting certain soil survey maps.  It specifically caters to only soil data needs.

 

Details:
 

  • Database products available in three forms:

    1. Tabular

    2. Spatial

    3. Template Database

  • Spatial products downloads provided in three formats:

    1. ArcView Shapefile

    2. ArcInfo Coverage

    3. ArcInfo Interchange

  • Coordinate systems are available in a variety of projections:

    • Geographic

    • Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)

    • State Plane

  • Typical scale resolution between 1:16K and 1:64K.

  • Files can be downloaded only one survey at a time.

  • Data files are acquired in zip file compression.

  • Downloads are free (no cost).

to obtain SSURGO soil type data from Soil Data Mart.

Need additional help obtaining soil type data (SSURGO format) from Soil Data Mart?

 

The Geospatial Data Gateway is a site sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).  Numerous databases are available by means of the Geospatial Data Gateway including; transportation, census, land use / land cover, soil type, ortho imagery, elevation, and topographic maps.  Description below applies to SSURGO soil type data only.

 

Details:
 

  • Database product files in three formats:

    1. ESRI Shape File

    2. ESRI Coverage

    3. ESRI ASCII Export

  • Coordinate systems are available in a variety of projections:

    • Geographic

    • Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM)

    • State Plane

  • Typical scale resolution between 1:16K and 1:64K.

  • Extensive coverage of U.S. (scheduled for completion in 2008).

  • Data files are downloadable in zip file compression.

  • Downloads are free (no cost).

to obtain SSURGO soil type data from the Geospatial Data Gateway.

Need additional help obtaining soil type data (SSURGO format) from the Geospatial Data Gateway?

 

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