Some cautions on the use of geographic information system (GIS) technology to integrate soil site and area data

Abstract

GIS are ideal software tools for managing spatially referenced data. While such systems offer tremendous opportunities for efficient integration of land resource data, certain types of data combination and analysis are not appropriate. Data from the Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC) Map for Alberta, detailed soil sites and long-term climate stations are used to demonstrate the importance of this consideration. Key words: Geographic information systems, GIS, soil sites, soil map