Operationalizing digital soil mapping for nationwide updating of the 1:50 000 soil map of the Netherlands

The national soil map at scale 1:50,000 is the main source of soil information in the Netherlands. Organic soils cover over half a million ha. Intensive use and deep drainage have resulted in an extensive decrease in the acreage of these soils. The national government has therefore commissioned an update of the 1:50,000 soil map for the peatlands. A pedometric approach was developed for updating the map for two areas in the peatlands that jointly cover 187,525 ha area: the till plateau (subarea 1) and the northern fen peat area (subarea 2). This is the first time that digital soil mapping replaces conventional soil mapping in a nationwide, government-funded soil survey programme. The subareas were modelled separately.