Monday, 7 November 2005
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Soil Compilation and Digitizing of Winfred Thomas Agricultural Research Station Using Integrated Method of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System.

Wubishet Tadesse, Alabama A&M University, 4900 Meridian Street, P.O. Box 1208, Normal, AL 35762, JEANCARLO TORRES, Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico, Hato Rey, PR, Joe Gardinski, USDA-NRCS, North Alabama Regional Soil Survey Office, 4900 Meridian Street, Normal, AL 35762, and Douglas Clendenon, USDA-NRCS, North Alabama Regional Soil Survey Office, 4900 Meridian Strteet, Normal, AL 35762.

Soil survey data are the most detailed natural resource inventories available to agricultural and land managers. In the past soil scientist used stereoscopes, aerial photography, pencils and pens to create soil survey reports. In today's modern world, the use of geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing helps convert old soil surveys reports on non-ortho aerial photograph to digital format. This study is part of a project currently under way by USDA/NRCS North Alabama Regional Soil Survey Office (NARSSO) and Alabama A&M University to recompile the soil survey of Madison County, Alabama (1958). The study area for this project is the Winfred Thomas Agricultural Research Station (WTARS), located 10 miles north of the campus of Alabama A&M University. The objectives are (1) to rectify and create ortho-photos from the 1942 vintage photographs, which were used to create the old survey report, (2) digitize the soil polygons and setup a geodatabase with topology in ArcGIS, and (3) deliver the spatial data to NARSSO for completing the overall soil map compilation and digitizing process for Madison County. The updated digital format soil data can provide a wealth of information to scientists who utilize the Station for different research. Acreage, location, and interpretations of the WTARS soil map unit can be accessed within a GIS environment. Soil map units can be linked to other ancillary data of the station and interpretations can be queried and results can be displayed and disseminated by electronic media.

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