Soil map 1:25,000 (continuous)
The Soil Map of Catalonia 1:25,000 (MSC25M), produced in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food and the ICGC, was initiated in 2009 with the aim of achieving continuous coverage of the entire territory of Catalonia with a homogeneous and high-quality soil base, acquired from office, field and laboratory work, to disseminate the knowledge acquired.
The MSC25M, until 2020, was produced within the Geoworks program as GT-IV Soil Map 1:25,000, was published on paper and distributed digitally in GeoPDF and Shapefile format by Esri. From 2021, the paper publication of the MSC25M was stopped and since then all soil cartography at a scale of 1:25,000 has been distributed in a single file in Esri's digital Shapefile format, which can be consulted from the Geoindex-Soils viewer and the ICGC's WMS Soils geoservices.
Soil is a limited and non-renewable resource on a human time scale. Its knowledge is essential for correct management of the territory in the agricultural aspect, territorial planning, civil engineering and the environment in the broadest sense of the term. Soil maps provide essential information about the types of soils that appear in an area, their spatial distribution and their morphological, physical and chemical characteristics.
Last update
- Date: July 2025.
- Content: Legend of the Geoindex Soils viewer [2,4 MB; Catalan]
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Characteristics of the MSC25M series
The scale adopted by the series is 1:25,000 because it allows the representation of soil elements with an adequate resolution for territorial planning.
The MSC25M is used and represented continuously throughout the territory with available coverage. It contains the information and symbology to represent the spatial distribution of the different types of soils that are represented, as well as their main characteristics. However, for its correct understanding and interpretation, access to the information contained in the Soil Catalogue of Catalonia, is necessary, where all the characterization of the edaphic properties for each type of soil is completed:
- Morphology: soil depth, presence and distribution of the different genetic horizons, color, texture, content of coarse elements, structure, consistency, compactness, human and biological activity, presence of cutaneous and accumulations.
- Chemical characteristics: soil reaction, electrical conductivity, organic matter content, carbonate content, cation exchange capacity.
- Physical characteristics: granulometry and bulk density.
The MSC25M information is structured in a way that allows different levels of reading, from the most basic, in which the user identifies the type of soil at a specific point in the territory (two dimensions), the deduction of what can be found at depth at a specific point through the sequence of horizons of the soil type (three dimensions), to being able to infer the suitability of the soils for the different scenarios that can be considered (soil assessment).
Currently, the Soil Map is carried out in collaboration with the Department of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda, which has detailed information on approximately 25% of the agricultural area of Catalonia.
Field soil information is obtained mainly by carrying out surveys, with a density of 0.04 observations per hectare in agricultural land and 0.02 observations per hectare in forest land. It is also important to mention the importance of the collaboration of the town councils and landowners, who facilitate aspects related to carrying out the surveys and collecting data on the ground. The samples obtained are subjected to various types of analysis to determine various parameters, such as organic carbon content, salinity, grain size and other parameters that define the different types of soils.
Reference frame and cartographic representation system
UTM zone 31N with ETRS89 (EPSG:25831). Official map system in Spain since 2007. Used in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands.
1. Representation of the 1:25,000 Soil Map
The central element of the 1:25,000 Soil Map of Catalonia is the representation of the spatial distribution of the main soil types described in the Soil Catalogue of Catalonia. This map contains the set of delineations that represent the areas with different soils and some headings that refer to the main soil types found within each delineation (Figure 1).
Figure 1. 1:25,000 Soil map in a Geographic Information System.
This map is symbolized in a GIS environment from the Shapefile (coverage file) of the continuous digital cartography of the MSC25M, loading the associated style library soil_taxonomy. It is also possible to load directly the Layerfile (layer definition file) that links the coverage file with the associated style library, in this case soil_taxonomy.
The soil maps of the ICGC use two types of cartographic units (Figure 4):
- Consociations. These are cartographic units dominated by one type of soil in more than 50% of the surface. In addition, the surface occupied by dissimilar soils is less than 25%.
- Complexes. These are cartographic units dominated, in more than 75% of the surface, by several types of dissimilar soils that usually give the unit its name.
Figure 2. Types of cartographic units that are presented on soil maps..
Cartographic units are composed of one or more main or dominant soil types and other soil types that cannot be represented on the map due to the small area they occupy at the working scale. These other soil types are called map inclusions or impurities, and are usually divided into:
- Similar soils. These are soils that, despite belonging to a different soil type than those represented on the map, respond in a similar way to their use and management.
- Dissimilar soils. These are soils that belong to different soil types than those represented on the map and that, in addition, present a very different response in terms of their use and management.
Cartographic units include, whenever possible, associations of the main soil types, as defined in the “Soil Survey Manual” (SSDS, 2017). When this has not been possible, due to the complexity of the soil distribution, complex mapping has been carried out.
The soil types on the maps have been established based on the Soil Taxonomy classification system of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and, in order to standardize and harmonize the information, they have been correlated with the reference soil groups of the Word Reference Base for Soil Resources (IUSS). Given the degree of description required and the working scale (1:25,000) of the ICGC soil mapping program, it has been chosen to use the Soil Taxonomy (SSS) series as the hierarchical level of classification, since it is the category richest in information. The soil types have been defined based on the original material, the effective rooting depth, the drainage class, the diagnostic horizons they present and their arrangement, the texture or granulometry of the horizons and the content of coarse elements. The criteria used can be found in the technical specifications for the execution of the ICGC soil maps. In order to name the soil types, names from the local toponymy of the first place have been used.
The soil map legend is defined as the set of all the cartographic units that appear on the map. This information can be extracted from the coverage file, which has an associated table with the attributes that characterize each cartographic unit, type of cartographic unit, soil type, soil type identification code, classification of soil types at subgroup level and at family level according to the Soil Taxonomy (SSS) classification system, classification of soil types according to the World Reference Base (IUSS) classification system and the codes, texts and styles necessary for the representation of the Shapefile file according to the main edaphic characteristics.
2. Complementary cartographic schemes
The complementary cartographic schemes included in the MSC25M series are intended to facilitate the interpretation and visualization of some important characteristics of the soils that are represented (Figures 3 to 7):
Figure 3. WRB classification (World Reference Base for Soil Resources).
Figure 5. Underlying material.
Figure 6. Drainage class.
Figure 7. Classes of available water retention capacity.
3. Soil Catalogue of Catalonia
The Soil Catalogue collects the soil type which is the most detailed level of description used by the ICGC in the MSC25M. The catalogue follows to a certain extent the principles and recommendations stipulated in the Soil Survey Manual guide, developed by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Soil types are defined following a classification system, based on characteristics and properties that allow their unequivocal identification, as well as their easy distinction with respect to the rest of the defined soil types. In the case of the ICGC mapping program, the characteristics and properties that have been used in the creation and description of these soil types have been1: effective soil depth, drainage class, classification (Soil Taxonomy), texture, content of coarse elements, mineralogy (equivalent calcium carbonate content, gypsum content, etc.) soil moisture regime.
Each soil type presents a detailed description of its morphology, the ranges of physicochemical characteristics that characterize them, the classifications according to the Soil Taxonomy (SSS2, 1999) and World Reference Base for Soil Resources (IUSS3, 2015) systems, its origin when defined from soil types from previous DACC4 cartographies, its spatial distribution within the published sheets and a representative profile to facilitate its identification in the field.
References
IUSS, 2015. Base referencial Mundial para el recurso suelo 2014, Actualización 2015. Sistema internacional de clasificación de suelos para la nomenclatura de suelos y la creación de leyendas de mapas de suelos. Internatinal Union of Soil Science. Working group Word Reference Base. Informe sobre recursos mundiales de suelos 106. FAO, Roma.
Soil Science Division Staff (SSDS), 2017. Soil survey manual. C. Ditzler, K. Scheffe, and H.C. Monger (eds.). USDA Handbook 18. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
1. Recollits en el document: Guia metodològica per a la redacció dels projectes de cartografia de sòls escala 1:25.000 (v. 2022) [2,8 MB]
Informes tècnics de l'Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya, ED-0001/22, 121 p., Generalitat de Catalunya.
2. Soil Survey Staff (SSS), 1999. “Soil Taxonomy. A Basic System for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys”. Soil Survey Staff, 2nd edition NRCS US Department of Agriculture, Handbook 436.
3. IUSS Grup de treball WRB, 2007. Base Referencial Mundial del Recurs Sòl. Primera actualització 2007. Informes sobre Recursos Mundials de Sòls, 103. FAO. Roma.
4. Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament d'Acció Climàtica, Alimentació i Agenda Rural (DACC).