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Soils data online

The NSW Soil and Land Information System (SALIS) provides a substantial database of information collected by earth scientists and other technical experts. SALIS contains descriptions of soils, landscapes and other geographic features, and is used by the NSW Government, other organisations and individual people to improve planning and decision-making for land management.

What information does SALIS contain?

SALIS contains physical and chemical data from more than 70,000 points across NSW. The information is collected by field staff and many other contributors, who add thousands of extra collection points each year.

Other categories, such as soil landscape information, soil maps and photographic images are also being added to the system.

The database is constantly updated as new information on the state's soil resources becomes available.

How can I access SALIS public data points?

SPADE via the NRAtlas is a map-based tool that show the locations of all public soil profiles in SALIS. You can also retrieve profile based landform and soil infomation on any of these profiles.

SALIS documentation

The following SALIS–related publications can be downloaded from here, free of charge.

• SALIS Soil Data Entry Handbook 3rd Edition (2001) (PDF 649KB)
• SALIS Soil Data Entry Handbook Supplement 1 - the Salinity Soil Data Card (2002) (PDF 239KB)
• SALIS Soil Data Entry Handbook Supplement 2- the 4-page, V4 Soil Data Card (2005) (PDF 142KB).

For further information

If you have any comments or inquiries about any aspect of SALIS, please email us at soils@environment.nsw.gov.au.