Groundwork NOVA

Organizations Summary

A Focus on Oaks and Maples

Dendrology

Invasive Plant Survey

Web Soil Survey

Here is the area of the Soil Web Survey I looked at.  Ivy Hill Cemetery is the open space in the center of the selection and contains the following soil types:  92B, 71D + 72B. 

A closer look at these soil types:

The Soil Web Survey allowed me to dive into further explorations of the relationship of soil and space use.  I choose to look further at Foresetland Productivity as that is one of the highlights of Ivy Hill Cemetery, the historical oak-dominated forest ecosystem.

Conclusion:
I love the idea of the soil that saved the world!  Soil needs more respect and acknowledge and I believe that the Soil Web Survey and an accessible application that gives practitioners from a variety of fields really great information that will allow them to make more informed decisions.
As a soon to be landscape architect I found lots of value in this application.  I would go as far to say that a soil survey should be included in the history and research of all design projects.  When you are in the site planning stages of a project the WSS would allow you to make design decisions based on soil characteristics and use.  It gives you the ability to draw conclusions about the water table, percolation rates, flood-plains, etc.  All really important information to consider when designing.  I think the ability to import an AOI from GIS data is a very valuable tool.
As a natural resources practitioner, I think that time shots would be great! If you can see how the built/occupied environment has changed the soil makeup/distribution over time that would be quite valuable data, allowing us to make more informed planning decisions in the long run.

It was good to learn about the categories of soil:
Mono taxa vs. Multi taxa
Major components vs. Minor components
Similar vs. Dissimilar

One of many questions:  How is the soil data collected?