Mapping and sites
Collecting soil and land resource information
To protect Queensland’s environment and manage its natural resources, it is necessary to accurately collect, interpret and monitor information about our soil and land resources. This information is used to:
- assess the variability of soils and landscapes
- demonstrate how land use is affected by this variation e.g. agricultural suitability, agricultural land class
- assess land management and land degradation risks.
Our soil scientists collect this information through land resource assessment programs. Nearly 200 programs have been carried out in Queensland since the mid-1950s. Standards and procedures for collecting soil and land resource information are documented in the Queensland land resource assessment guidelines.
We require the collection of soil and land resource data to support sound decision making through development assessment processes or as a part of impact assessment for major infrastructure projects. For example, assessment of the cumulative impacts from new agricultural areas, water releases, land clearing and/or the mineral resources sector. The Queensland soil and land resource survey information guideline (PDF, 1.2MB) helps proponents identify the information that is required for these approvals under the State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971.
Accessing soil and land resource information
The information collected is held in the Soil and Land Information (SALI) database. You can access this data via the:
- Open data portal – search for soils and land resource mapping projects.
- Queensland Spatial Catalogue – access soils and land resource spatial mapping data sets by searching for an area in Queensland. Detailed metadata is available for individual soil survey projects, and you can view metadata before downloading data.
- Queensland Globe – access soil mapping and soil site data, along with over 600 spatial data layers on Queensland roads, rail, property, topography, mining and exploration, land valuations, land parcel information, water levels and more. Read the step-by-step guide to accessing soils information from the Globe (PDF, 4 MB).
Refer to the soils data information sheet (PDF, 304 KB) for attribute fields and their definitions. The information sheet was prepared to accompany the soils and land resource data sets.