21st World Congress of Soil Science – Soil science: beyond food and fuel

Division: Soils in Space and Time

Symposia: Pedometrics – Reconciling pedometrics and pedology

BRINGING TOGETHER BRAZILIAN SOIL SCIENTISTS TO SHARE SOIL DATA

Alessandro Samuel-Rosa1, Ricardo Simão Diniz Dalmolin2, Paulo Ivonir Gubiani2, Stanley Robson
de Medeiros Oliveira3, Wenceslau Geraldes Teixeira4, João Herbert Moreira Viana5, Eloi Ribeiro6,
Carlos Gustavo Tornquist7, Lúcia Helena Cunha dos Anjos8, José João Lelis Leal de Souza9, Marta
Vasconcelos Ottoni10, Paula Suélen Corrêa de Medeiros11, Diego José Gris2, Nícolas Augusto
Rosin2, Jean Michel Moura Bueno2, Humberto Gonçalves dos Santos4, Eliseu José Weber7, Carlos
Alberto Flores12, Elias Mendes Costa8, Ronaldo Pereira de Oliveira4, José Maria Filippini Alba12,
João Chrisóstomo Pedroso Neto13, Fabrício de Araújo Pedron2, João Henrique Caviglione14,
Gustavo Souza Valladares15, Carmem Sueze Silva Miranda16, José Alexandre Melo Demattê17,
José Marques Júnior18, Diego Silva Siqueira18, Renato Eleoterio de Aquino18, Nelida Elizabet
Quiñonez Silvero18, Aline Marques Genú19, Tiago Broetto20, Luciano Campos Cancian2, Pablo
Miguel21, Jovani Zalamena22, André Carnieletto Dotto17, Jaime Antonio de Almeida23, José Miguel
Reichert2, Gustavo Ribas Curcio24, Leonardo Santos Collier25, Waldir de Carvalho Junior4, Ademir
Fontana4, Aline Pacobahyba de Oliveira4, Eduardo Saldanha Vogelmann26, Fábio Joel Kochem
Mallmann27, Gustavo de Mattos Vasques4, Igo Fernando Lepsch17, Jessé Rodrigo Fink28, João
Carlos Ker29, Leandro Souza da Silva2, Pedro Luiz de Freitas4, Wanderlei Bieluczyk17, Tales
Tiecher7

1
Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, 2 Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, 3 Embrapa
Informática Agropecuária, 4 Embrapa Solos, 5 Embrapa Milho e Sorgo, 6 ISRIC World Soil
Information, 7 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 8 Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de
Janeiro, 9 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, 10 Serviço Geológico do Brasil, 11 Instituto
Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, 12 Embrapa Clima Temperado, 13 Empresa de Pesquisa
Agropecuária de Minas Gerais, 14 Instituto Agronômico do Paraná, 15 Universidade Federal do
Piauí, 16 Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco, 17 Universidade de São Paulo, 18
Universidade Estadual Paulista, 19 Universidade Estadual do Centro Oeste, 20 Catena
Planejamento Territorial, 21 Universidade Federal de Pelotas, 22 Universidade Federal de Santa
Catarina, 23 Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, 24 Embrapa Florestas, 25 Universidade
Federal de Goiás, 26 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, 27 Universidade Regional Integrada do
Alto Uruguai e das Missões, 28 Instituto Federal do Paraná, 29 Universidade Federal de Viçosa

Abstract
Soil science has produced a great deal of data. Most of the information is published as a single
paper, and the primary data is unavailable to other researchers. As data underutilization is a waste
of resources and refrains the advancement of knowledge, many isolated soil data rescue and
sharing efforts have emerged in the scientific community. Lately, soil scientists have increased their
concerns with data discoverability and reusability, and reproducible research. To address these
issues, Brazilian soil scientists have recently created a data repository using community-built
standards and following open data policies. The Free Brazilian Repository for Open Soil Data –
febr, www.ufsm.br/febr – is a centralized repository targeted at storing open soil data and serving it
in a standardized and harmonized format. The repository infrastructure was built using open
source and/or free (of cost) software, and was primarily designed for the individual management of
datasets. A dataset-driven structure helps datasets authors to be properly acknowledged.
Moreover, it gives the flexibility to accommodate many types of data of any soil variable. This is
accomplished by storing each dataset using a collection of spreadsheets accessible through an
online application. Spreadsheets are familiar to any soil scientist, the reason why it is easier to
enter, manipulate and visualize soil data in febr. They also facilitate the participation of soil survey
experts in the recovery and quality assessment of legacy data. Soil scientists can help in the
definition of standards and data management choices through a public discussion forum, febr-
forum@googlegroups.com. A comprehensive documentation is available to guide febr maintainers
and data contributors. A detailed catalog gives access to the 14 477 soil observations – 42% of
them from south and southeastern Brazil – from 232 datasets contained in febr. Global and
dataset-specific visualization and search tools and multiple download facilities are available. The
latter includes standard file formats and connections with R and QGIS through the febr package.
Various products can be derived from data in febr: specialized databases, pedotransfer functions,
fertilizer recommendation guides, classification systems, and detailed soil maps. By sharing data
through a centralized soil data storing and sharing facility, soil scientists from different fields have
the opportunity to increase collaboration and the much needed soil knowledge.

Keywords: Legacy soil data; National-scale datasets; Data for scenario modeling; Unified soil data
repository; Database design.

Financial Support: Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES),

Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná
(UTFPR), Fundação Araucária (FA).