national soil survey center lincoln, ne usda-nrcs understanding soil interpretations

NATIONAL SOIL SURVEY CENTER LINCOLN, NE USDA-NRCS UNDERSTANDING SOIL INTERPRETATIONS

Goals of this Class: Upon completion of this class, participants will be able to: 1. Define an interpretation 1. Define an interpretation 2. Demonstrate an awareness of Properties, Rules, and Evaluations 3. Describe how they fit together 4. Describe the importance of component data in the interpretive process 5. Tell someone what the fuzzy number means 6. Produce interpretive reports for customers 7. Produce maps of interpretive results 7. Produce maps of interpretive results

Why do we interpret soils? Few people besides soil scientists know enough about soils, and about the interactions among the many soil characteristics that define each kind of soil, to do the job by themselves. Experience shows that the soil scientist must take leadership in developing the interpretations. The soil scientist must have help and guidance from competent people in the related fields. Finally, his/her results should be tested in practical application. In fact, the soil scientist always lives in an atmosphere of criticism. Charles Kellogg

Core Mission of the Soil Survey Program > make an inventory of the soil resources of the United States; > keep the soil survey relevant to ever-changing needs; > interpret the information and make it available in a useful form; and > promote the soil survey and provide technical assistance in its use for a wide range of community planning and resource development issues related to non-farm and farm uses.

NASIS Interpretations Soil interpretations are models used to predict soil behavior under a defined criteria set Interpretations have four pieces* Property Evaluation Subrule aka Base Rule or Rule -Interpretation aka Parent or Primary rule

NASIS Interpretation Approach PROPERTY EVALUATIONPRIMARY RULE A Property is an SQL-like statement that retrieves specific soil data from the database, or calculates a soil property (such as AWC) from one or more NASIS data elements An Evaluation takes the property value retrieved or calculated from the database, ranks it using approximate reasoning, and graphs its membership in a class. An evaluation produces a numerical result from 0 to 1. A Rule is a logic diagram that describes the relationship between the evaluations and subrules that make up the parent rule. A Rule produces a numerical value based on fuzzy mathematics operating on the numerical values from evaluations and other rules. A Rule processes the evaluation results into rating classes (interpretive values). soil has limitations for playing fields if soil is too slopingslope EXEC SQL SELECT component slope_gradient_r FROM component WHERE 0 1 024681012 Relative Impact SLOPE % BASE RULES

Viewing and Running Property Scripts Start NASIS Refresh your local database and clear your selected set Find the query Area/Lmap/Mapunit/MajorComp by AreaSym, AreaType (Training) under Pangaea and run it using National Test Data set for Area Type and the area symbol Interps. Run it first against the National database then ACCEPT into your local database. Then query again to bring the data in to your selected set. Open the Component table and select the Berks component having Record ID 1878226 (make sure that the component is highlighted, the Component Record Number is the last data element in the Component Table)

Viewing and Running Property Scripts (Interpretive materials are a part of the local database, so you do not have to run a query to load them) Click on the Interpretations Object In the Explorer Panel, open Properties, NSSC Pangaea, double click on the script named KSAT HIGHEST MINIMUM, 30-200cm OR FIRST RESTRICTION The Property has three tabs: General, Property, and Text

Viewing and Running Property Scripts The General tab gives general information about the property, such as how it works and what the expected output is. The Data Type is specified as Numeric or Character. The Modality may be High, Low, Representative Value, High, Low or Representative Value. Most interpretive results that are reported are based on the rv.

Viewing and Running Property Scripts The Property tab displays the script that retrieves the desired data. select specifies the data elements to be retrieved DERIVE gets data using other scripts DERIVE gets data using other scripts DEFINE creates new variables Properties use the same scripting language as reports

Viewing and Running Property Scripts The Text tab may display information about edits that the script has had.

Viewing and Running Property Scripts *Make sure that the component mentioned above is still highlighted and the KSAT HIGHEST MINIMUM, 30-200cm OR FIRST RESTRICTION property is selected for viewing *Click the green Run property against local database arrow on the NASIS Toolbar to run the property on the Berks component *A browser window should open and display results that look like the next slide

These numbers are the values the variables had when the script finished running low, rv, and high are the numbers sent to the evaluation

Viewing and Running NASIS Evaluations *The evaluation is an assessment of a particular soil property for its relative impact as a limiting feature based on a chosen evaluation type *The membership value indicates the relative truthfulness of the statement, for example: it is absolutely true that this soil property is in the set of soil properties limiting to land use when it exceeds this threshold * The membership value describes the degree to which a soil is a member of the set of limited soils. 1.0 is a full member, 0.001 to 0.999 denotes a partial member, and if the membership value is 0, the soil is a non- member of the set of limited soils *The low and high values specified are agreed upon by a team of subject matter experts *Many different shapes of curves to reflect the empirical nature of the relationship This evaluation returns 1 for true, 0 for false

Viewing and Running NASIS Evaluations Use the Where property is used tool to find which evaluation(s) use the property we just ran The output report appears in a browser window In the Explorer Panel, open Evaluations, NSSC Pangaea, double click on the evaluation name Ksat Highest Minimum 30-200cm or Restriction In the Explorer Panel, open Evaluations, NSSC Pangaea, double click on the evaluation name Ksat Highest Minimum 30-200cm or Restriction The Evaluation has three tabs: General, Evaluation, and Text The General tab contains the Description which explains what the evaluation does

Viewing and Running NASIS Evaluations * The Evaluation tab displays the membership function that relates the magnitude of the soil property value to its degree of limitation or suitability for the land use in question based on the evaluation type chosen * The membership function depicts the degree to which a soil is a member, non-member, or partial member of the set of soils that are limited (or suited) for a particular land use by the soil property being examined * In this case, ksat less than 14.1 um/sec is not a problem, but ksat higher than 42 um/sec is and ksat between 14.1 and 42 um/sec is the fuzzy space * Another word for membership value is fuzzy number, since the evaluation is really a fuzzy set which is a part of fuzzy logic

Viewing and Running NASIS Evaluations To run the Evaluation, make sure that the Berks component is highlighted in the Component table and that the evaluation called Ksat Highest Minimum 30-200cm or Restriction is selected in the view window Click on the green arrow on the menu bar to run the property against the selected component A browser window should open and display results that look like the next slide

The property data should be just as was seen before Fuzzy number from low Fuzzy numbers from rv Fuzzy number from high The High RV Value is the fuzzy number reported in NASIS tables. More than one RV is reported because some property scripts may report more than one rv. This does not happen very often. Usually, the High RV and Low RV are the same, depending how they were populated in NASIS

Viewing and Running NASIS Rules Use the Where evaluation is used tool to find which rule(s) use the evaluation we just ran The output report appears in a browser window In the Explorer Panel, open Rules, NSSC Pangaea, double click on the rule name Ksat Highest Minimum, 30- 200cm, Seepage In the Explorer Panel, open Rules, NSSC Pangaea, double click on the rule name Ksat Highest Minimum, 30- 200cm, Seepage The Rule Editor has four tabs: General, Rule, Rating Classes, and Text The General tab contains the Description which explains what the rule does

NASIS Rules: Base Rule or subrule A logical statement about one limiting feature given certain criteria: It is absolutely true that a soil is limited as a site for a septic system if the slope exceeds 40 percent Interpretation or Primary Rule A logical statement, given the way the data was evaluated, about land use, limiting features, and the relationship among limiting features: It is absolutely true that a soil is limited as a site for a septic system if it is too steep, too wet, too stony, or too permeable

Viewing and Running NASIS Rules The Primary Interpretation? button allows the rule writer to designate whether a rule is meant to be a part of a larger rule or if it meant to stand alone. Most interpretations are aggregations of many subrules or base rules The Rule Design allows the writer to designate whether the rule is a limitation style (fuzzy number of zero means not limited) or a suitability style (fuzzy number of one means well suited) or class style (fuzzy number has no land use connotation) The Not Rated Phrase allows the writer to specify the output that is produced when null data is encountered which can make finding the null fields much easier

Viewing and Running NASIS Rules Clicking the Rule tab causes the logic diagram of the rule to be displayed. The green oval represents the evaluation that was previously discussed. The square represents a Hedge, which in this case directs what the output will be if null data is encountered. Clicking the Rating Class tab opens the Rating Class Table where rating class names are assigned to ranges of fuzzy numbers Clicking the Text tab displays the Rule text table where changes to rules are documented Clicking the green arrow will run the rule against the selected component and produce the output seen on the next slide

Viewing and Running NASIS Interpretations Use the View where rule is used tool to find which interpretations(s) use the rule we just ran The output report appears in a browser window In the Explorer Panel, open Rules, NSSC Pangaea, double click on the rule name DHS - Site for Composting Facility - Surface (you can filter the rules by checking the View primary rules only box) In the Explorer Panel, open Rules, NSSC Pangaea, double click on the rule name DHS - Site for Composting Facility - Surface (you can filter the rules by checking the View primary rules only box) Just as before, the Rule Editor has four tabs: General, Rule, Rating Classes, and Text The General tab contains the Description which explains what the interpretation does

Viewing and Running NASIS Rules *Clicking the Rule tab causes the logic diagram of the interpretation to be displayed. The green rectangles represents the subrules that are used in the main rule to rate the soil based on the criteria. *The yellow circle is the operator, which is used to determine the relationship between the limiting factors and land use. The OR operator means the factor that produced the highest fuzzy number is most limiting. *The Zoom is used to size the diagram so that you can see as much as possible in the edit window. *Clicking the View where rule is used tool will open a browser that shows all the first level subrules that make up the interpretation, as shown on the next slide Double click in a subrule box to open the subrule

Viewing and Running NASIS Rules *These are the first level subrules that the interpretation uses. Some of the subrules may also have subrules. The greater the layering of subrules that are dependent on other subrules, the greater the rule depth. We will cover rule depth later. *Clicking on the Rating Classes tab opens the rating class table. This is where the familiar rating class names like Not limited are assigned. In a primary rule, the rating classes are for the overall interpretation. The subrules provide the rating reasons.

Double click in the rule box, double click in the evaluation oval, click the Open button

Viewing and Running NASIS Rules *The edits to the primary rule are documented under the Text tab *You can run the interpretation against any component selected in your selected set by pressing the green arrow *A browser window will open with the results (next slides)

The characteristics Slope and Precipitation describe the component as a whole, while the saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) describes layers in the component

Note that even though some of the data is character, in NASIS it is stored as an integer. This component does not have a high water table, so the rv for the depth is empty

No flooding or ponding, so the property scripts are made to return 0 No permafrost

Each layer is examined for large rock fragments in the soil This looks for large rock fragments on the soil The rating for a soil is based on the populated data, so this data must be right to produce a valid interpretation.

Review * Soil interpretations are models used to predict soil behavior under defined criteria * In NASIS, the interpretation generator has four major pieces: Properties, Evaluations, and Subrules and Primary Rules or Interpretations *Properties are scripts that retrieve soil property data from the database *Evaluations compare the data from a property to an established membership curve to assess the impact on land use and produce a fuzzy number *Rules provide the rating class for the soil property associated with the fuzzy number *Primary rules synthesize many rules (subrules) to produce the overall rating *The soil property data in the database is used to produce the ratings; thus, if the data does not reflect the soil component properly, the rating will not be appropriate. *The fuzzy number is an indicator of the degree of membership a component has in the set of limited components, in limitation- style interpretations: 1.00 means a full member, 0.00 means a non-member. In a suitability style interpretation, 1.00 means well suited and 0.00 means not suited.

Producing and Mapping Interpretive Data Manuscript-style reports Exports for mapping

Two kinds of manuscript-style reports: MANU Have the prefix MANU Groupings of related interpretations These report scripts can be found on the NSSC Pangaea NASIS site INTERP Have the prefix INTERP Portrait or Landscape Table User-defined lists of interpretations These report scripts can be found on the NSSC Pangaea NASIS site

Manuscript-style reports MANU prefix Click on the Reports object, open the NSSC Pangaea menu, double click on MANU - Dwellings and Small Commercial Buildings Click on the Reports object, open the NSSC Pangaea menu, double click on MANU - Dwellings and Small Commercial Buildings Options for running reports: 1) Run against selected set 2) Run against National database, short run time, results open on your screen 3) Run offline against National database, allows long run time, link to results sent by email These reports are meant to be run against your selected set, not the National database These reports are meant to be run against your selected set, not the National database Reports to be run against the National database must have a parameter to limit the number of components interpreted Reports to be run against the National database must have a parameter to limit the number of components interpreted Click Option 1. The results look like the next slide Click Option 1. The results look like the next slide If you run an report without parameters against the National database, NASIS tries to run the report against the ENTIRE database!! A parameterized report opens a dialogue box when you click the run arrow

Manuscript-style reports INTERP prefix Click on the Reports object, open the NSSC Pangaea menu, double click on INTERP - (NAT) Portrait Table Click on the Reports object, open the NSSC Pangaea menu, double click on INTERP - (NAT) Portrait Table The Description gives information about the report and how to use it The Description gives information about the report and how to use it Click on the Run report against national database button Click on the Run report against national database button This opens the dialogue box seen on the next slide This opens the dialogue box seen on the next slide Running interpretation reports (and a few others) will take a long time on your local machine. It is best to let the National database do the work, in my opinion. Running interpretation reports (and a few others) will take a long time on your local machine. It is best to let the National database do the work, in my opinion. Run reports for large soil survey areas offline against the National database to avoid tying up your NASIS interface while the report runs. Run reports for large soil survey areas offline against the National database to avoid tying up your NASIS interface while the report runs. Experiment with different interpretations, methods of running, and parameters, as seen on the next slide Experiment with different interpretations, methods of running, and parameters, as seen on the next slide

Manuscript-style reports INTERP prefix This is the dialogue box for a parameterized report This report allows us to choose any non-MLRA soil survey area, enter wv007 Select the interpretations as shown Set the Reporting Depth to 2. The meaning of reporting depth is explained on the next slide. Click Print RV and Print Fuzzy Ratings as shown The Maximum Non-Zero reasons is the number of limiting factors to display. It is usually 4 You can add a name for the report if you wish wv007 You can experiment with different settings here. You can also look at the description and the script.

Reporting depth The Reporting Depth has nothing to do with soil depth In this hypothetical interpretation, land use is impacted by content of rock fragments, slope, soil reaction, and depth to water table, so each has its own subrule In the interpretations system, the reason a soil is limited is reported by a Rule (Rating Class Names) Since size matters when it comes to rock fragments, the rock fragment subrule is composed of a subrule for each size class of fragment Since it is useful to know if soil is too acid or too alkaline, the reaction subrule is composed of two subrules, one for acidity and one for alkalinity Most of the time, we report a depth of 2 (Rule level 1) When diagnosing problems, use rule depth 3 or higher

Exporting interpretive results Two kinds of exports: non-aggregated and aggregated Non-aggregated reports allow you to see how each component rates, but puts much more information on a page than manuscript reports Example: NSSC Pangaea:AGR - Nat. Com. Crop Prod. Ind. Corn and Soybeans Export Open the report, insert information in the dialogue box, and run the report (This report can be run against the national database) Example of the output on the next slide (after loading into Excel) You can see additional data to see if the rating makes sense

Exporting interpretive results You can also plot data from an export to see if it makes sense or where data is peculiar Excel below, JMP right

Exporting interpretive results *Map unit aggregated export reports use some sort of aggregation to combine the output from components *Several NASIS reports find the dominant condition of the components in the map unit *Rating classes and interpretation can be fixed: (GPR (NAT) Suitability Report Dominant Condition (Export)) *Rating classes and interpretation can be user defined: (INTERP- (NAT) Data Export Dominant Condition 5 Class) *The lmapunitiid (mukey) is included for linkage to SSURGO spatial data * The next slides are an example of an export and a map of soil suitability for gopher tortoise habitat which uses fixed rating classes

Project Assignment 1: Assignment 1: Run a manuscript- style report for at least one interpretation Name and save the file and email it to your mentor Hint: Use rule depth 2 and limit reasons to 4 Assignment 2: Prepare thematic maps for the interpretation(s) you chose for Assignment 1 Hint: When you import the export into Access, make sure mukey is text

Assignment 2 Help You need to know where your SSURGO spatial data is stored or be able to get the shape files and store them somewhere. gSSURGO is good You will use NASIS, ACCESS, and ARC-Map There are many ways to do a map, one way is shown here Steps in the process:

NASIS part of the process * Under the NASIS reports tab select MLRAO6 Morgantown *Find the report called INTERP-Data Export Dominant Cond 5 Class (New)1.31 *Run offline against the National dataset This report requires Firefox as default browser

NASIS part of the process *Type the Area Symbol (if using a wildcard, use %) *Next find the rule you want to run and run it

NASIS part of the process *You will get an email of the results. Open the email and follow the link. *Save as text under the name you choose, where you want to save the file

NASIS part of the process

Highlight the data table, including the header row Copy Paste into Notepad (or Excel, I use Notepad) Hit Save as, name the file, put it where you can find it

MS- Access Open MS- Access and create blank database and name the new database Click on the little folder and save the database as 2002-2003 type, which is the.mdb format that ARC can use.

MS- Access Click here Then here Select the 2002- 2003 format from the pull down menu

MS- Access Next, right click over Table1 :Table on left side and select Import then Text File

MS- Access Browse for your NASIS Interp report and then click OK

MS- Access Select Delimited and hit Next>

MS- Access *Choose the delimiter by clicking the Other radio button and typing | pipe *Check First Row contains Field Names *Text qualifier is set to none *Hit Next>

MS- Access *Select the mukey field and change the data type to text and then hit Next> *(The other fields should be the right data type already)

MS- Access Select No primary key and then Next

MS- Access Hit Finish

MS- Access Next, click Close

*In Arc Map, add the SSURGO soils layer for the area you are working with *Navigate to your ACCESS database using the ADD Data button *Select joins and relates on your spatial layer and link to the ACCESS table ArcMap

*Select MUKEY *Hit the browse button and select the dbase file that you create in Access *Select MUKEY *Then Hit OK Arc Map

1.Right click over the properties for the spatial layer ArcMap

*In the Value Field, select the field that contains the data you want to map in the name *Click Add all values *Then click ok ArcMap

Change Labels 99 (not rated) 50 (water) and then add the rest of reasons as you see fit ArcMap

ArcMap Change color to fit the rating (set outline to 0)

ArcMap Change the labels to say what you want for each value

ArcMap Finishing Touches Insert a title, north arrow, legend, and scale Export the map as a jpeg for submission to the mentor

national soil survey center lincoln, ne usda-nrcs understanding soil interpretations

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