Nearly all data in the Kellogg Soil Survey Laboratory and the associated pedon data are available for download. Customers
can download SQLite, Access, GeoPackage, and ESRI File Geodatabases. NOTE: The NCSS Characterization
database schema was updated in 2021. It was modified to make column headers easier to understand and to
reduce the number of tables.
These databases contain all the data from the NCSS Characterization Database but they don't have point layers indicating
sampling locations.
Microsoft Access
- File Type - .mdb
- Description - This format is historically used to deliver the entire NCSS Characterization Database. Spatial data is
not included but coordinate pairs for sample locations exist for most sample locations. Note: The Microsoft Access database does not include the Mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy.
- Download Microsoft Access File
SQLite
- File Type - .sqlite
- Description - Entire NCSS Characterization Database. Spatial data is not included but coordinate pairs for sample locations
exist for most sample locations. Essentially identical to the Microsoft Database format.
- Download SQLite File
These databases contain most of the data from the NCSS Characterization Database and they also include point layers indicating sampling
location.
SQLite
- File Type - .sqlite
- Description - Contains the entire NCSS Characterization Database, but unlike the tabular only databases, it contains a spatial layer
of all sample locations that can be related to the tabular data.
- Download SQLite File
GeoPackage
- File Type - .gpkg
- Description - Contains the entire NCSS Characterization Database, but unlike the tabular only databases, it contains a spatial layer
of all sample locations that can be related to the tabular data.
- Download GeoPackage File
ESRI File Geodatabase
- File Type - .gdb
- Description - Contains the entire NCSS Characterization Database, but unlike the tabular only databases, it contains a point feature
class of all sample locations that can be related to the tabular data.
- Download ESRI File Geodatabase File
SQLite GeoPackage
- File Type - .gpkg
- Description - Contains the entire pedon data associated with the sampling locations. Contains both tabular and spatial data, including a
point layer of pedon description locations.
- Download SQLite GeoPackage File
ESRI File Geodatabase
- File Type - .gdb
- Description - Contains the entire pedon data associated with the sampling locations. Contains both tabular and spatial data, including a
point layer of pedon description locations.
- Download ESRI File Geodatabase File
OPUS
- File Type - opus
- Description - For a set of known soil samples representing a given target area (e.g. mollisols of Kansas), the mid infrared (MIR) spectra of those samples can be calibrated to the conventionally measured soil properties (like clay, pH, organic carbon, etc) of those samples. These calibrations then allow the estimation of those same properties of new samples from that target area from the MIR spectra alone. Thus, MIR spectrometry offers a reliable, inexpensive, and rapid means of estimating many soil properties. This portal houses the spectral, reference and meta data needed to build MIR calibrations at various scales.
- Download MIR OPUS Zip
- Download MIR CSV Zip
Metadata
Metadata are the definitions of the database structures for Soil Data Access Lab Data Mart (SDA-LDM) and its related databases. This includes the structure of each table, data element definitions, lists of codes, and relationship information.
From these pages you can browse and print the documents and reports that have traditionally been part of the SDA-LDM Database Structure Guide. In addition, a variety of new metadata documents, diagrams, and downloads are also available. Additionally,
all downloadable NCSS Characterization databases other than the Companion Pedon (Morphological) Data are derived from the LDM database and the metadata is applicable to those databases.
If you are already familiar with the contents of the SDA-LDM metadata documents, reports, and diagrams, you may simply navigate directly to the metadata category for which you wish to obtain metadata.