The historical role of base maps in soil geography

History of soil geography in the context of scale

“…The introduction of geographic information systems and digital mapping products to soil 552 mapping has largely decoupled cartographic scale from analysis scale (Goodchild and Proctor, 1997; 553 Miller and Schaetzl, 2014). To learn from the experience of past soil geographers, and to avoid repeating 554 mistakes, it is important to apply lessons learned by cartographic scale with paper maps to analysis 555 scales of digital maps.…”

“…Base maps are a prerequisite for the production of 25 thematic maps, such as soil maps. Therefore, soil maps through time have been constrained by the 26 cartographic scales (and hence, level of detail) of the available base maps (Miller and Schaetzl, 2014). It 27 then follows that the development of geographic soil principles should be considered in the context of 28 map scale.…”

“…Soil Survey products by facilitating greater detail, 300 precision, and accuracy in the maps (Bushnell, 1932). Although detailed Soil Survey work had already 301 begun to progress towards this finer resolution of soil mapping, the availability of these base maps 302 expedited the process (Miller and Schaetzl, 2014). Aerial photography was gradually integrated into the 303 mapping process of the U.S.…”

Soil mapping, classification, and pedologic modeling: History and future directions

“…These accounts were utilized in the feudal system of western Europe, in Arabia from the 6th to the 15th century, and in China from approximately 300 to 1951 CE (Miller and Schaetzl, 2014). The first actual mapping of soil attributes was undertaken in Europe in the early 1700s for the purposes of land valuation and taxation (Brevik and Hartemink, 2010).…”

Selected highlights in American soil science history from the 1980s to the mid-2010s

“…However, much of this improvement comes from the use of better base maps and digital processing for delineations (Miller and Schaetzl, 2014). The delineations in the legacy soil maps of the NCSS are primarily based on what could be observed by the human eye on a 1930s-1980s vintage aerial photograph.…”