Soil Data Viewer for ArcMap 9.2

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Soil Data Viewer for ArcMap 9.2 (PDF; 575 KB)

Soil Data Viewer (SDV) is used in ArcMap to create reports and spatial layers that are available through the Microsoft Access soil reports. The most common use is for range site or forest site ecological maps, but SDV can create GIS layers for any interpretation that is available in your soil reports. For example, you can create maps of crop or hay production, habitat types, even suitability for septic tank drainfields.

In order to use SDV, there are a few extensions and settings that will need to be done in ArcMap if they’re not set up already. You can perform these steps from any current ArcMap project; as long as there is at least one soil layer in your Table of Contents (either a county-wide soil layer or a clipped soil layer to match your Planned Land Units) SDV can be an extremely valuable tool. The following instructions will walk you through the process of using the SDV.

In your Toolkit/ArcMap project you will need to get the SDV extension on the top menu bar (if it’s not already shown somewhere). To retrieve it, right click somewhere in a blank part of the top menu bar, or go to View, then Toolbars. A menu bar with all available extensions will come up.

Scroll down until you find “Soil Data Viewer Tools” and left click to put a check mark by it. (Note: if you do not see this extension in the list, call your Area or State Toolkit Specialist for assistance).

The SDV icon might come up as a small window in the plan view. Just drag and drop it onto an open part of the top menu.

Click on the SDV icon.

Soil Data Viewer uses both the soil shapefile and the Access soil database. You have to select the appropriate files.

In this example the soil_map_out shapefile is selected (this is the layer created by the Soil Map toolbar icon in Toolkit). If you do not have a clipped soil layer, you can choose any other soil layer in your ArcMap Table of Contents. Click OK when your soil layer is selected.

You may get one of the following messages, or it might say something about not being in sync: “Some but not all of the map units currently selected in the soil map layer have a counterpart in the database”, or, “None of the map units currently selected in the soil map layer have a counterpart in the database.” The first message usually occurs for example when soils are missing some data like range site name such as the MT616 Deer Lodge County smelter impacted soils. The second message usually occurs when the map layer shapefile is not from the same county as the database

Click OK.

As an example, the Synchronization Status shows No map units in sync. The Map Layer is correct but the Database is pathed to MT644.mdb. It needs to be MT616.mdb. To correct this, click on the Browse button for Database. Path to F:\FOTG\Section_II and select the correct database that corresponds to the soil shapefile. These have to match. Once selected, click Open.

Set to Advanced Mode.

The Synchronization Status should say “All map units in sync”. In this example it says “Some map units in sync”; this is because the smelter impacted map units in MT616 do not have range sites yet.

The Map Layer and Database at the bottom of the screen should now match up.

The following is an example of how SDV can be used. The Ecological Site Names for Range will be queried and a map and report will be created.

1. Open the Land Classification under Attribute Folders.
2. Select Ecological Site Name.
3. Click on Rating Options.
4. Click on the drop down arrow in Data Selection Options and select NRCS Rangeland Site.
5. Open the drop down arrow on Aggregation Method and select Dominant Condition.
6. Click on “Map” at the bottom of your screen.

SDV creates a temporary layer in your Table of Contents. (Note: The Not rated or not available polygons in the symbology are either forested units or map units without assigned range site. These are smelter impacted soils in this example.)

This layer will disappear when you close ArcMap. You can create a permanent shapefile from this temporary shapefile by right-clicking on the shapefile name in the map Table of Contents and going to Data, then Export Data. Path to the correct folder, then save the shapefile and skip down to page 6 (Unique Value). However, if you want to merge polygons with the same attributes (i.e. remove common lines), you’ll want to use the Geo-processing Wizard. This has changed significantly with the conversion to ArcGIS 9.2, and you’ll have to do some preliminary set-up options.

To use the GeoProcessing Wizard in 9.2, follow these steps:

1. In ArcMap, go to the Tools menu at the top of the screen, and then choose “Customize”. This will open a window with three tabs: Toolbars, Commands, and Options. Choose the “Commands” tab. The window will change to one with two basic columns: Categories and Commands.
2. On the left column (“Categories”), single-click on ArcToolbox. You’ll see the right column (“Commands”) change. Left click and drag the scroll bar on the right column until you see the “GeoProcessing…” command.
3. Left-click and drag the “GeoProcessing…” command to any existing ArcMap toolbar. Notice that this particular command does not have an icon associated with it. If you’d like to create an icon for this tool, simply right-click on “Geoprocessing…”, and choose “Change Button Image” to bring up a list of icons.
4. Choose any icon that you want to use. Once selected, right click on “Geoprocessing…” again, but now choose “Image Only.” You’ll now see the new icon appear on the toolbar where you dropped it.
5. In the far lower left of the “Customize” window, make sure that your current map project is selected from the drop down menu. If any other map project is selected, ArcMap will crash and you’ll have to do the whole process over again. Next, close the “Customize” window.

Click on your Geoprocessing icon. A web-based application called “Introducing Geoprocessing” will open through ArcGIS Help. From the Table of Contents on the left side, choose “Dissolve.”

1. Click on the Open Tool button to get into the Dissolve (Aggregation) wizard.
2. In the Input Feature Class window, use the drop-down arrow to choose the temporary shapefile created in the previous steps.
3. In the Output Feature Class window, make sure that you’re pathed to the correct location (typically this will be under C:\Documents and Settings\user.name\My Customer Files Toolkit\Customer\Resource_Maps). Type in a name for the new shapefile to be created (i.e. rangesite).
4. Click on the OK button to start the Dissolve wizard. This will clean up any common lines between polygons and merge them into one. In the same process, it will also create a real shapefile, instead of the temporary shapefile that was built in the previous steps. Note: This will probably take a few seconds to run in order to build a relatively small new shapefile. If the area is very large or there is an extraordinary amount of polygons to dissolve, this process can take a few minutes to run. When the application is finished, close all of the Geoprocessing windows to get back to your regular ArcMap screen.
5. In your ArcMap Table of Contents, right-click the temporary shapefile and choose “Remove.”
6. Next, from the Table of Contents, double-click on the newly-created shapefile to open up the Layer Properties window. Click on Symbology.

Go to the “Unique Value” category and select a color scheme for your new layer.

Try to use colors that mean something, such as blues for Wet Meadow and Sub-irrigated, dark green for Silty 15 to 19 and lighter green for Silty 10 to 14.

You might also want to set the transparency so you can see the photo image through the colors. This can be done on the Display tab in the Layer Properties box. It will take a little experimentation, but start with about a 30 percent transparency or so, then adjust from there until you can see the imagery through the shapefile without the quality of the image being compromised.

In the above example the plan covers both Deer Lodge and Silver Bow Counties, with just the Deer Lodge county part done first. The next step would be to go back to the SDV and do the same process for the Silver Bow part. Then use the Geoprocessing Wizard to merge the two layers into one. If there were also forested map units for this area the same process to make a Habitat Type map, by selecting Forest Habitat Type – Montana. Most soil components have more than one habitat type assigned in the database. SDV will only show the first one listed in the database, but this should be the most common habitat type. You cannot merge a Range Site theme with a Habitat Type them as they have different database columns for the data.

It is important to remember SDV creates interpretations for only one soil component. So if you have a complex of two or more soils you will only get the range site for the Dominant Soil (usually the first named soil) or Dominant Condition (all components with the same range site added together). For example, 854E Libeg-Monad-Copenhaver complex, 15 to 35 percent slopes. Libeg and Monad are both Silty 20”+ precipitation zone (p.z.) and Copenhaver is Shallow 20”+ p.z. Part of the SDV process is to select an “Aggregation Method”. In this example if you select Dominant Soil you will get the interpretation for Libeg. If you select Dominant Condition you will get the interpretation for both Libeg and Monad as they are the same. The range site map will not show the Shallow component. It is recommended that the user always print the Range Production report from the Access soil database for the soil map units needed so you don’t miss components.

If you have any questions about this process, please call Neal Svendsen (Area Soil Scientist- extension 115). We can do a NetMeeting to help walk you through the process if you get stuck somewhere.

Commonly used SDV Applications:

Land Classifications:

• Ecological Site Name (Forested and Range)
• Hydric Rating
• Yields for Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Crops
• Capability Classes for Irrigated and Non-Irrigated Lands

Soil Erosion Factors:

• T Factor
• Wind Erodibility Indexes
• Soil Physical Properties:
• Available Water-holding Capacity

Vegetative Productivity:

• Crop Productivity Index
• Forest Productivity
• Range Production (Favorable, Normal, and Unfavorable Years)
• Crop Yields

Water Features:

• Depth to Water Table
• Flooding/Ponding Frequency Classes
  

Last Modified: 09/16/2008