Generation of soil and land resource reports and thematic maps is the final step involved in the soil survey activities using cartographic techniques. The soil & land resources reports and maps generated were provided to panchayats, krishibhavans, planning bodies and administrators etc to serve as ready reckoner for soil and land information. The Soil Informatics and Publication Cell of the Directorate is in charge of the publication of all reports and maps received from the district offices after thorough scrutiny so as to have uniformity and to maintain quality of the output.
Traditionally printed reports and manually drawn maps were produced and published. Hard copies of same are retained for reference at the office. Traditional cartography was used for map preparation which is time consuming and difficult method of geographic representation. With the advent of modern technologies such as Geographic Information System, Geo Positioning System, Remote Sensing etc the stakeholders demanded digital format of soil and land resource database. The Department visualised the opportunities of utilising the modern technologies to widen the activities so that the voluminous data generated through surveying and mapping can be disseminated to the user end in a highly presentable form. An added advantage of the same is the data can be stored digitally, edited and retrieved at any time in the future. Realizing and exploring the possibility of Information technology in Soil Survey, a Geomatics Lab has been set up at the Headquartersduring January 2005 where in use of Geographical Information System started.
The Geomatics lab of the department is attached to the Directorate of Soil Survey & Soil Conservation.
Soil survey is an established scientific tool in the world for generation of soil database. It allows generation of soil information through systematic examination of soils in the field by exposing soil profile for morphological characterization followed by detailed characterization of soil with analytical data for soil classification, delineation of soil boundary on base map through traversing, interpretation and generation of interpretative maps and reports. Soil conservation activities undertaken in each location needs to be geo tagged for spot identification and implementation of site specific activities.
The department makes use of latest technologies like Geographic Information System (GIS), Remote Sensing( RS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) to locate, delineate, classify soil information and updating the existing database and also for managing voluminous spatial data in a systematic manner. The field level data and analytical data is tagged with the location co-ordinates collected using GPS for its spatial representation. GPS is also used for mapping assets in a watershed, locating soil profile, land parcels and for collecting GCP (ground control points). The Organization has state of the art GIS lab in Thiruvananthapuram with latest hardware and software facilities. The department has a detailed soil database along with recent high resolution satellite images. These technologies are being used for watershed delineation, spatial analysis and thematic map generation for various reports.