Data on soils on the nation’s 3,265 soil survey areas are now updated and available free online from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

This update, the first since the Web Soil Survey went online in 2005, features:

• Soils data for the Continental U.S. that flows seamlessly, without gaps, across county lines and other political boundaries;
• A full complement of national soil survey interpretations that let users analyze interpretations nationally, regionally and in several states at one time;
• The first set of soil survey Major Land Resource Area update projects; and
• A subscription feature that forwards updates for specific soil survey areas directly to customers via email.

The NRCS Web Soil Survey now serves more than 180,000 users a month, attracting a large audience that includes landscape architects, community planners, real estate developers, engineers, as well as researchers in universities. Everyday, people in agriculture reference the survey, as do NRCS employees as they help customers with a host of issues and questions, and putting together conservation plans.