The Irish SIS Final project was established in 2008, following a comprehensive inventory of Irish soil data compiled by Daly and Fealy (2007), which had highlighted that soil data coverage of Ireland was incomplete in both detail and extent. The ISIS project was funded under the Environmental Protection Agency STRIVE Research Programme 2007?2013 and co-funded by Teagasc. It was led by Teagasc with the participation of researchers from Cranfield University (UK) and University College Dublin. The overall objective of the ISIS project was to conduct a programme of structured research into the national distribution of soil types and construct a soil map, at 1:250,000 scale, which would identify and describe the soils according to a consistent national legend. This map is now available in digital format and forms the basis of a new soil information system for Ireland (http://soils.teagasc.ie).


The Irish SIS Final Technical Report 9 covers National Soil Series Description and Classification of Representative Profiles

Please Note: The PDF associated with this Irish SIS Final Technical Report 9 is very large. The total filesize is approximately 170MB. It is advised that you allow the file to download completely to your computer or device before attempting to read/open it.

Go back to top of page Top

Go back to top of page Top

Please Read Carefully Before Downloading

It is important for the EPA and the Environmental Research Community to know that the data and information products we distribute are useful to the user community we support. One way of doing this is by tracking the use of data and information in publications. Parts of or all of the datasets, data, or digital information products available here can be freely downloaded for further use in scientific applications under the condition that the source will be properly quoted in published papers, journals, websites, presentations, books, etc. Whenever possible the EPA strongly urge you to cite the use of these data, information, and web resources in the reference section of your publications. For convenience an automatically generated citation is available below which can be used immediately for citation purposes.

EPA SAFER Data Download Disclaimer: Before downloading any of the data or information objects below you are kindly asked to read the data download disclaimer Read Disclaimer (Opens in New Window). Downloading data or information objects from SAFER-Data indicates an acceptance of the data download disclaimer and the conditions outlined within it.

Suggested Citation Information

The information supplied in the table below should be provided with all citations to this electronic resource. You are requested to format each of the fields below as required by the specific bibliographical style you are using.

An example of this citation in proper usage:

Creamer, R.   "The Irish SIS Final Technical Report 9: National Soil Series Description and Classification of Representative Profiles". Associated datasets and digitial information objects connected to this resource are available at: Secure Archive For Environmental Research Data (SAFER) managed by Environmental Protection Agency Ireland https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/resource?id=10c67bb0-89d9-11e4-8d3a-005056ae0019 (Last Accessed: 2024-10-11)

Permalink

Go back to top of page Top

SAFER-Data Display URL	https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=3074
Resource Keywords	Irish SIS, National Soil Series Description, Classification , Representative Profiles
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code	2007-S-CD-1-S1
EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme	Land-use, Soils, and Transport
Resource Availability:	Public-Open
Limitations on the use of this Resource	The report and any data or information resources made available on this SAFER-Data resource have been generated by the Irish SIS project. The reliability, quality and completeness of data gained through SAFER-Data is intended to be used in an education or research context. These data are not guaranteed for use in operational or decision-making settings. The EPA and SAFER-Data requests an acknowledgement (in publications, conference papers, etc) from those who use data/information received with SAFER-Data. This acknowledgement should state the original creators of the data/information. An automated citation is provided below. It is not ethical to publish data/information without proper attribution or co-authorship. The data/information are the intellectual property of the collecting investigator(s). The data/information may be freely downloaded and used by all who respect the restrictions and requirements in the previous paragraphs.
Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download):	1
Project Start Date	Tuesday 1st April 2008 (01-04-2008)
Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Tuesday 1st April 2008 (01-04-2008)
Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects	Friday 12th September 2014 (12-09-2014)
Published on SAFER	Monday 22nd December 2014 (22-12-2014)
Date of Last Edit	Monday 22nd December 2014 at 12:46:21 (22-12-2014)
Datasets or Files Updated On	Monday 22nd December 2014 at 12:46:21 (22-12-2014)

Go back to top of page Top

Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
The Irish SIS project adopted a combined methodology of utilising novel predicted mapping techniques in tandem with traditional soil survey applications. This unique combination at a national scale has resulted in the development of a new national soil map for Ireland. Building upon the detailed work carried out by the An Foras Talúntais (AFT) survey (known as Terra Cognita), the Irish SIS project generated soil-landscape models at a generalised scale of 1:250,000 for the counties of Carlow, Clare, Kildare, Laois, Leitrim, Limerick, Meath, Offaly, Tipperary South, Waterford, Westmeath, Wexford, West Cork, West Mayo and West Donegal. These soil-landscape models (also referred to as soilscapes) were used as the baseline data for statistical models (random forests, Bayesian belief networks and neural networks) to predict soil map units in counties where there was no map available (referred to as Terra Incognita). To validate the methodology, this work was supported by a 2.5 year field survey, in which 11,000 locations were evaluated for soil type, using an auger bore survey approach. These data were used to check the predicted soil mapping units (associations) for counties: Cavan, Dublin, East Cork, East Donegal, East Mayo, Galway, Kerry, Kilkenny, Louth, Monaghan, Roscommon, Sligo, Tipperary South and Wicklow, where a detailed soil survey map was not available. Where new soil information was generated, due to previously unknown combinations of soil-landscape units, profile pits were selected at representative locations across the country. These 225 pits were described and sampled in detail and were used to generate a new soil classification system for the country. The final product is a unique combination of new and traditional methodologies and soils data from both the AFT and the ISIS project. The final, soil association map of Ireland consists of 58 associations (excluding areas of alluvium, peat, urban, rock or marsh) that are made up from 213 soil series. Associated representative profile information is available in the online soil information system.

Go back to top of page Top

In this section some supplementary information about this resource is outlined. Lineage information helps us to understand why this project was carried out, what policy or research requirements did it fulfil, etc. Lineage is important in understanding the rationale behind the carrying out of a project or the collection of a specific dataset etc. Links to web sites, applications, papers, etc are outlined to provide you with additional information or supplementary reading about the project or dataset

Any links supplied by the resource owner are stored such that they will open in a new window. Following such a link may lead to a 3rd party website over which EPA has no control in regards to contents or suitability.

Go back to top of page Top

The following is a list of similiar projects and resources on SAFER. Usually these resources share a similiar thematic area to the resource The Irish SIS Final Technical Report 9: National Soil Series Description and Classification of Representative Profiles you are currently viewing. You can view the full description for these projects and resources by using the links supplied.

• The Irish Land Mapping Observatory (ILMO)- Mapping and Monitoring Land Cover, Use and Change View Full Metadata Description
• Irish Soil Information System ? application of novel and traditional techniques in soil survey View Full Metadata Description
• Interactions of Soil Hydrology, Land Use and Climate Change and their Impact on Soil Quality View Full Metadata Description
• Characterising variation of heavy metal pollution in urban soils View Full Metadata Description
• Geochemistry Stream Sediment Data for the Historic Mine Sites Project - Inventory and Risk Classification, Volume 1 View Full Metadata Description

Go back to top of page Top