United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service
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NSSC Soil Survey Soil Characterization Database
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Query by Site Information


In addition to entering an exact user site ID, six methods are available to select information using site-input choice lists.

Selection by Latitude and Longitude

Use the choice lists to select latitude using degrees, minutes, and seconds measured north or south of the equator and longitude measured east or west of the prime meridian. Maximum latitude is 90 degrees north or south, and maximum longitude is 180 degrees east or west.

Or use the text boxes to enter latitude and longitude in decimal degrees.  Latitudes in the northern hemisphere are positive numbers while those in the southern hemisphere are negative numbers.  Acceptable latitudes are between -90.0 and 90.0.  Longitudes to the east of the prime meridian are positive numbers while those in the west are negative numbers.  Acceptable longitudes are between -180.0 and 180.0.

The latitude and longitudes for the sites where soil samples were taken are stored in the database in decimal degrees.  So it may be difficult to find sites by a specific latitude and longitude.  Therefore, it is encouraged to use the range drop-down list or range text boxes to provide a virtual window to locate sites.

Selection by Political Subdivision

We recommend this method. Selecting a site by country, state, and county is one of the best ways to query the database. Most of the data in the database is indexed by political subdivision and can be accessed by this method.

Selection by Soil Survey Area

Use the choice list to select a soil survey area to query. This field is populated to aid in data management while sampling a project. Soil survey areas may overlap. They may have similar or identical names. Not all pedons are identified by soil survey area. If your soil survey area is not listed, try a different method for querying the data.

Selection by Major Land Resources Area (MLRA)

Use the choice list to select an MLRA. Additional information regarding MLRAs is available from the 2006 MLRA Geographic Database.

Selection by National Park System Land

Use the choice list to select an area in the National Park system. If the name of a specific National Park does not display, no data are available for that Park.

Selection by National Forest System Land

Use the choice list to select an area in the National Forest system. If the name of a specific National Forest does not display, no data are available for that Forest.




The advanced query entry choices are accumulative. All selections entered on this page are processed as one query. The "Clear All Search Criteria" button, which is located at the top of the page, clears all choices. Make your selections carefully. Poor selections may return no results or excessive results. If you have difficulty, we suggest you query by country, state, and county. This method offers an array of data from the selected area of interest. This website is optimized for Windows® Internet Explorer.




For assistance from the Soils Hotline, call Click For Phone Numbers:  or email Soils Hotline.