Department of Geographic Information Systems and Technologies National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine Kyiv, Ukraine e-mail: GIS_DZZ_chair@nubip.edu.ua, an_moskalenko@yahoo.com
Abstract. Geoinformation technologies are widely used for soil survey applications. The purpose of the study is to develop a geodatabase to provide soil quality monitoring using GIS mapping based on data of agrochemical soil survey. The research consisted of the following tasks: to design the structure of geodatabase; to create geodatabase using data of agrochemical soil survey of the pilot territory; to monitor land cover/soil quality changes between the tours of soil survey; to use ArcGIS capabilities to create digital cartograms. The developed geodatabase of pilot territory provides making the strategy of soil sampling according to the form of land ownership. Keywords Soil Quality; GI S; Geodatabase; Soil Mapping I. INTRODUCTION Land cover and soil cover is an important component in understanding the interactions of the human activities with the environment and thus it is necessary to be able to simulate their changes [1]. The decrease of soil fertility has been carrying on during the last decades. Soil cover of agricultural lands is intended to degradation and contamination. Privatization process of land parcels in Ukraine influenced to the appearance of the numerous land owners and agricultural producers of different ownership. Tasks related to the management of agricultural production are of great importance nowadays. Soil quality monitoring is an effective mean to provide qualitative and quantitative evaluation of soil quality within time, to control the content of contaminants in soils (such as heavy metals, radionuclides, etc.). There is a vital need in informational providing for soil quality monitoring. Digital soil mapping is essential tool due to the decreasing, time-consuming and expensive field surveys which are no longer affordable by the soil surveys of the individual districts [2]. Geoinformation technologies have become useful means in diverse range of application [3] and in digital soil mapping as well. The GIS-based decision-support system is described to establish potentials and limitations of different soils for crop production [4]. Remotely sensed data, satellite imagery and other spatial data is an important input to many analyses. It can provide timely as well as historical information that may be impossible to obtain in any other way. The availability of these data provides opportunities for environmental studies particularly in the areas of change detection, landuse mapping, land evaluation, land survey that would have been unknown of only a few decades ago. The problem of land mapping unit delineation in land evaluation is resolved in GIS environment [5] based on various spatial data. In this concern the aim of the research is to design structure and components of the geodatabase as well as technological scheme of soil mapping based on the results of agrochemical characteristics of soils in order to evaluate the soil quality. II. MATERIALS AND METHODS The original soil maps of the Kyiv region as well as the map of agricultural soil groups of the pilot territory were used in the research. Tasks for creating a geodatabase are divided into data capture, data organization, data derivation and data analysis. The process of soil mapping based on GIS with the aim to evaluate soil quality consisted of the following steps: development of conceptual, logic and physical models of geodatabase; geodata input; attribute data input related to the current data and previous data of agrochemical surveys; thematic mapping; geodatabase queries and change analysis; geovisualizing the results. The area mapped is territory of Agronomic experimental station of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine (Figure 1). The Unified Modeling Language (UML) has been used to model the soil quality of agricultural lands. III. GEODATABASE DEVELOPMENT AND GIS MAPPING The study shows the part of the problem to be resolved related to soil quality monitoring based on geodatabase design. According to the procedure of soil qualities monitoring on agricultural lands in Ukraine the regional centers are responsible for development of regional databanks of soil quality characteristics on agricultural lands as well as information systems which provide data collection, data analysis, regional programs development for conservation of soil fertility and explanation of recommendations to create the decision support scenarios. SECTION 7. Information and Communication Technology
ICTIC 2013 Conference of Informatics and Management Sciences March, 25. - 29. 2013 2nd International Conference http://www.ictic.sk - 287 -
Figure 1. Location of study area: a) Ukraine; b) Kyiv region; c) Agronomic experimental station of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine; d) Vasilkivskyi district. To provide GIS mapping for soil quality evaluation the following procedures were used: development of conceptual geodatabase model; spatial and attribute data input; thematic mapping; geodatabase queries. A. Design the structure of geodatabase One of the general strategies to creating geodatabase is using UML to design the schema and the CASE tools subsystem of ArcGIS to generate feature datasets, feature classes, tables, and other items. ArcGIS supports the use of CASE tools to import UML models for geodatabase design. UML is a useful tool for documenting the relational aspects of a geodatabase schema. Constructed scheme was imported into ArcGIS to be used for mapping soil quality. The starting point of the geodatabase design includes the development of conceptual, logic and physical models. The structure of the geodatabase in order to resolve the main task of the research is given in Figure 2. The components of the geodatabase are: landuse structure of agricultural enterprise: title, code, territory organizing, crop rotation, field number, elementary plot number, parcel number (if available); structure of the territory administrative organization; soil areal on the map (soil agricultural group, soil name, soil texture); structure of observation network (number of soil elementary plots).
Figure 2. Fragment of UML diagram of conceptual data model of the quality of agricultural lands. SECTION 7. Information and Communication Technology
ICTIC 2013 Conference of Informatics and Management Sciences March, 25. - 29. 2013 2nd International Conference http://www.ictic.sk - 288 - The capture of spatial data, processing and spatial analysis were performed within the GIS environment. Since soil data are spatial in nature, it can be easily handled and analyzed using ESRI ArcGIS. The soil quality is characterized by spatially related information. This information can be managed, analyzed and presented in ArcGIS. The heart of any geoinformation system is the data model, which is a set of components for representation of objects and processes in the digital environment of computer. Object oriented design and analysis was used to create certain representations of the general components and relations. The UML is the object modeling and specification language used when developing models. UML includes a standardized graphical notation that may be used to create an abstract model of system: the UML model. Using UML as a framework, the schema for modeling of the quality of agricultural lands has been developed. UML model contains classes and linkages, which describe necessary data and relationships to a specialized GIS. Agricultural lands can be described by various information, including the location, crop rotation, soil composition and chemical soil property, etc. This information is defined by a set of parameters that includes both attributes and geometry. Model of the quality of agricultural lands consists of the following elements: Soil_Type, Soil_Subtype, Genetik_Soil_Type, Soil_Texture, Degradation_Type, Degradation_Subtype, Agrosoil, DEM (digital elevation model), Suitability_Soil_Scale, Crops, Crop_Rotation, Agricultural_land, Land_Users, Field, Elementary_Plot, Parcel, Agrochemical_Indicators, Chemical_Values (Chemical_Field & Chemical_Elementary_Plot) (Table 1). The schema of the model of soil quality of agricultural lands is realized with ArcGIS. UML-diagram has been imported to ArcGIS. Therefore the appropriate structure is provided to adding spatial and attribute data. For actual data analysis the object-relational model of geodatabase has been designed to describe geometry of objects and their development, change detection analysis, relationship of objects with other classes in geodatabase. Such model is a basis to provide analysis of existed data and to obtaining the new transformed data. B. Spatial and attribute data input Different data types were entered into geodatabase. Spatial data are represented by satellite image QuickBird for the territory of experimental station and Alos/AVNIR for delineation of the district boundary. Soil maps, cartograms and plans of the territories of village communities were scanned and digitized. Data integration from different sources and different forms of data representation is based on the use of a unique coordinate system and a basic set of geospatial data. Spatial information has been complemented with attribute data. The main data represented in information system for soil quality monitoring is given by the data of soil agrochemical analysis; ecological and ameliorative soil survey based on total survey as well as selected soil surveys, data obtained according to the procedure of agrochemical passport development in different levels: field farm (or enterprise) district region.
TABLE I. DESCRIPTION OF THE SPATIAL LAYERS OF GEODATABASE OF SOIL QUALITY STATUS Groups of classes Class name Description S o i l
Soil_Type element, which describes a large group of soils that are formed in similar biological, climatic, hydrological conditions Soil_Subtype represents soil group within the type, which has the difference between primary and secondary processes of soil formation Genetik_Soil _Type element, which describes group of soils within a soil subtype that differs in the degree of associated process of soil formation Soil_Texture determines physical texture of agricultural soils (by particle size) Degradation_ Type determines the types of degradation by the source of negative phenomena: biological, physical, water and wind erosion, etc. Degradation_ Subtype defines the subtype of degradation on etiological agent Agrosoil the object, combining all characteristics of soil by origin Suitability_ Soil_Scale describes the suitability of soils for crop growing by properties of soils and slopes C r o p s
Crops a set of grain-crops, vegetables, forage crops and industrial crops Crop_ Rotation determines the sequence in crop growth on the field Adminis trative division Admin_Territ orial_ System the administrative division. It has the following units: region, district, city, town, village council, village Land User Land_User the owner or landholder, which determines the form of land use DEM DEM a digital elevation model (DEM), a 3D representation of a relief. DEM obtained from contours and height points. This element has a type of surface L a n d
p l o t
Parcel the smallest plot of land, which has cadastral number, area, owner and defined boundaries Elementary_ Plot a plot of land, which has area less then 30 ha and similar soil properties Field a part of agricultural land, which is used under crops Agricultural_ Land component which describes type of land by the way of economic use C h e m i c a l
V a l u e s
Agrochemical _Indicators indices of the soil quality: agrophysical (texture, soil density, productive moisture), agrochemical (soil reaction (pH), humus, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, trace elements, etc.), soil pollution (heavy metals, pesticide residues, radionuclides, etc.) Every index has limit value or threshold Chemical_Ele mentary_Plot averaged values of soil quality indicator of elementary plot Chemical_ Field averaged values of soil quality parameter within the field
C. Monitor of agricultural land cover/soil quality characteristics Thematic map of elementary plots for individual soil sampling has been created including analyses of the input spatial data. The size of elementary plot depends on the type of SECTION 7. Information and Communication Technology
ICTIC 2013 Conference of Informatics and Management Sciences March, 25. - 29. 2013 2nd International Conference http://www.ictic.sk - 289 - agricultural lands, heterogeneity of the territory, variability of soil cover and the size of the land parcel. It is recommended to use the area of 10 to 15 ha within fields over area of 30 ha to be an elementary plot of arable land in the Forest-Steppe zone [6]. To delineate elementary plots on the pilot territory the variability of soil cover has been taken into account according to agricultural groups of soils within each elementary soil mapping unit in the field as well as data available of the previous soil surveys. According to the methodology of agrochemical soil survey 20 individual soil patterns are sampled from each elementary plot for obtaining the mixed sample per plot. Soil data were entered into the geodatabase and consisted of agrophysical, physico-chemical, agrochemical characteristics and soil pollution. Digital soil mapping has been done as an alternative to classical soil surveys for the quantitative mapping of soil properties over agricultural areas of a certain landuser. Soil monitoring is a system of surveillance of soil to timely detection of changes, its evaluation, prevention and elimination consequences of negative processes. The main task of soil monitoring is prediction of ecological and economic results of land degradation and development proposals to prevent or remedy of negative processes. Digital cartograms developed in the research were used by landuser to optimize fertilizer rates based on soil quality characteristics. While mapping soil quantitative characteristics to study their distribution within the field/soil agricultural group or elementary plot there is a choice in representation of layer properties (e.g. categories, quantities, multiple attributes). Using agrochemical soil data when creating cartograms the values are grouped into classes. Soil characteristics within one class keep their variability within the class range. They have the same symbol which corresponds to a certain class. Setting the range of the class determines the objectives belonging to the class. According to the methodology of agrochemical survey the specialized palette is used to displaying the set of elementary plots with the same attribute values in one class. The range of classes is established according to the level of nutrients in the soil. The manual procedure was applied to determine the range of classes under cartogram design. For each elementary plot the combined spatial information and the set of agrochemical data obtained from tours of soil agrochemical observations were used to creating digital cartograms (Figures 3-4). Soil classification by humus content includes 6 classes: 1 very low (in red color), 2 low (orange), 3 medium (yellow), 4 moderate to high (green), 5 high (blue), 6 very high (dark blue). Soil agricultural groups of the pilot territory are characterized by high humus content.
Figure 3. Humus content in the soil: a) humus content per elementary plots; b) humus average value per agricultural soil contour per field; c) average value per field; d) average value per agricultural soil contours per enterprise.
Figure 4. Nitrogen content in the soil: a) nitrogen content per elementary plots; b) nitrogen average value per agricultural soil contour per field; c) average value per field; d) average value per agricultural soil contours per enterprise. There were no significant changes observed SECTION 7. Information and Communication Technology
ICTIC 2013 Conference of Informatics and Management Sciences March, 25. - 29. 2013 2nd International Conference http://www.ictic.sk - 290 - in humus and easily hydrolysable nitrogen content within the period between the last two soil agrochemical surveys. Creating queries is the next stage of geodatabase functioning. Developed geodatabase provides data queries for different levels: the level of agricultural soil group per field; individual field; soil agricultural group within the territory of enterprise, district, and region. IV. CONCLUSIONS The fundamental conceptual model of the geodatabase has been created using UML diagram and realized in ArcGIS. The model has been used to evaluate and analyze the soil quality of agricultural lands. A set of thematic maps which has the potential of visual impression of soil properties has been created. These maps delineate one level of indices of the soil quality rating from the other using color coding system. That is a particular color was used to indicate levels of agrochemical indices in the study area. Evaluation changes in soil quality indicators could be done based on the results of soil agrochemical surveys in different years using the developed geodatabase. The methodology and deliverables of the research allow using the new planning guidelines to preserve and manage the soil fertility while managing agricultural development in the region. REFERENCES [1] T. Kuldeep, K. Kamlesh, Land Use / Land cover change detection in Doon vally (Dehradun Tehsil), Uttarakhand: using GIS&Remote Sensing Technique International Journal of Goematics and Geosciences, vol 2, No 1, 2011, pp. 34-41. [2] T. Behrens and T. Scholten, Digital Soil Mapping in Germany a review, Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, vol 169(3), 2006 pp 434443. [3] Eric K. Forkuo, Abrefa K. Digital Soil Mapping in GIS Environment for Crop-Land Suitability Analysis research article, International Journal of Geomatics and Geosciences, Vol. 2, No 1, 2011, pp 133146. [4] Raj Setia, Vipan Verma, Pawan Sharma, Soil Informatics for Evaluating and Mapping Soil Productivity Index in an Intensively Cultivated Area of Punjab, India, Journal of Geographic Information System, vol. 4, 2012, pp 7176. [5] Iuliana Cornelia NICULI, Mihai NICULI Methods for natural land mapping units delineation for agricultural land evaluation, Agronomy Series of Scientific Research / Lucrari Stiintifice Seria Agronomie, vol. 54, Nr. 1, 2011, pp 4449. [6] Methods agrochemical certification of agricultural lands / edited S.M. Rizhuk, M.V. Lsovy, D.M. Bentsarovsky. Kiev, 2003 64 p.
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Comparing Land-Cover Maps Accuracies Generated From Multispectral Classification of Landsat-8 OLI and Pleiades Images Using Two Different Classification Schemes