Design and implementation of a soil geographic database for rural planning and management
R. Norberto Fernández, Marek Rusinkiewicz, Lucia Morais da Silva, Chris J. Johannsen · Journal of Soil and Water Conservation · 1993
Soils information for the soils series (SCS-5) and the soil mapping unit (SCS-6) were provided by SCS and loaded into a relational database management system (DBMS). The physical design of a database involves the evaluation of implementation alternatives using the data model of the DBMS. This database, which is part of a geographic information system (GIS), will provide information for soil erosion and soil management studies, and land appraisal for tax assessment. The results of the conceptual design of a soil database were mapped to the relational data model. The resulting database is free from update anomalies (i.e., each elementary fact can be updated independently of other elementary facts), while preserving all dependencies among attributes. To facilitate data retrieval, pre-defined queries were developed to retrieve data based on various combinations of attributes. The results of queries can be presented as formatted reports, and linked to the cartographic database of the GIS.