The Web Soil Survey (WSS) is the official source of soil survey information for the United States and is available online for more than 95 percent of counties nationwide. The WSS provides soil data and information produced by the National Cooperative Soil Survey and is operated by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The NRCS updated the soil data for the state of West Virginia on November 17 of this year which was part of an annual nationwide update.
Through the WSS, soil data can be viewed and analyzed online, as a report or map, for identifying the suitable or limiting nature of the soil for desired uses. The WSS provides a wide variety of soil data for national interpretations as well as others developed locally for use in West Virginia.
The WSS offers options for searching desired locations, for example by county, soil survey area, address or coordinates.
Other features include the ability to import shapefiles from a personal geographical information system (GIS) to the WSS, download areas of interest from the WSS to a personal GIS, download complete soil survey areas, and subscribe to feeds for updates. The WSS has the capability of developing various products such as maps, tables, reports, and interpretations which are available for immediate PDF download.
After 10 years, the WSS has become the number one USDA web portal providing soils information to an international community. In 2015 the WSS logged over 2.9 million user visits and averaged over 242,000 visitors per month. Users can view summaries of soil types for any geographic location where NRCS soil data exists. Detailed information on the named soils is now seamlessly linked and formatted within the application. Visit the Web Soil Survey Website at: http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/.
You may also subscribe to topics using a free subscription service called GovDelivery. For a free subscription on soil topics visit: https://public.govdelivery.com and choose the topics of interest. Individuals can e-mail inquiries to soilshotline@lin.usda.gov for assistance with GovDelivery and Web Soil Survey.
Web Soil Survey customers can click on the “Contact Us” link in Web Soil Survey to get assistance from the Soils Hotline or contact the West Virginia State Soil Scientist Jared Beard at jared.beard@wv.usda.gov or 304-284-7597.
You may also contact your local NRCS office or visit our website: http://www.nrcs.usda.gov.
