About Us | Visual database of soils and ecosystems PhotoSOIL

Soils have high morphological variability in space. However, many soil patterns consisting of soil morphons are not considered at all when classifying soils. It is very difficult to characterise soil patterns in a morphological description, so it is easiest to discuss them using high-quality photographs of soils.

One limitation of applying digital technologies is the insufficient number of soil photographs available online. Researchers usually only have access to their own materials, which are not accessible to the wider scientific community and are often specific to a particular region. While the number of photographs in scientific publications and personal Telegram channels has increased in recent years, there is still a need to organise and archive these materials. The 4th version of the Photosoil database was created to address this issue.

The key difference from previous versions is that access to the database is now map-based, providing an effective way to organise information. A new feature is the ability to filter objects for a differentiated display on the map. Layers showing ecosystems and publications have also been added to enhance the contextualisation of soil data.