The National Soil DataBase (NSDB)
The NSDB is the set of computer readable files which contain soil, landscape,
and climatic data for all of Canada. It serves as the national archive
for land resources information that was collected by federal and provincial
field surveys, or created by land data analysis projects.
The NSDB includes GIS
coverages at a variety of scales, and the characteristics of each named
soil series. The principal types of NSDB
data holdings (ordered by scale) are as follows.
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intended for use at scales of 1:30 million to 1:1 million
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coverage includes the entire land mass of Canada
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polygons are nested groupings of Soil
Landscapes of Canada polygons
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data is available from other federal and provincial agencies
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scale of 1:2 million
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coverage includes the three prairie provinces
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data includes climatic, economic, crop, soil, and landscape attributes
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polygons are similar to EcoDistricts (but not identical)
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better soils and climate data is available (Soil
Landscapes of Canada, National
Ecological Framework)
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scale of 1:1 million
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coverage includes the entire land mass of Canada
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data includes major soil and landscape attributes
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scale of 1:250,000
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coverage includes most agricultural lands in Canada
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data includes capability for Agriculture, Forestry, Wildlife, Recreation,
Ungulates
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produced in the 1960's, 1970's and early 1980s
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better soils data and CLI ratings at larger scales are available (Detailed
Soil Surveys)
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scale varies (1:20,000 to 1:250,000)
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coverage includes much of the significant agricultural areas of Canada
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data content varies, availability of digital data varies
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printed provincial indexes are available; query
the NSDB data holdings
Data obtained from other agencies
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These datasets are not normally available for distribution.
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Data digitized by CanSIS are not subject
to the data release policies of the agency of origin, and these datasets
are available for distribution. These datasets include base maps, cultural,
and hydrological information.
Further information