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County Level Soil Surveys in Digital Format — SSURGO

Sample of SSURGO data, combined with roads, water and ortho image

What counties are available? Check Status of Soil Survey

Summary - what is SSURGO?

Vermont SSURGO (Soil Survey Geographic Database) information includes the digital soil maps  and the accompanying soil properties and interpretations database. This data is primarily used in GIS applications. GIS (Geographic Information Systems) allow the combination of computerized maps. With GIS software the user can analyze and display digital soil maps along with other data layers.

The SSURGO user should be knowledgeable of the structure of the soil database and familiar with GIS technology.

There are three levels of digital soils data:

  • SSURGO - is the most detailed county level data
  • STATSGO - is less detailed state-wide map
  • NATSGO - is a very general soil map of the entire U.S.

The majority of counties in Vermont use 1:20,000 mapping scale for SSURGO data. The minimum area mapped is, in general, about 3 acres.  This level of mapping is designed for use by farmers, landowners, watershed groups, towns, and county/regional/state natural resource planning agencies.  The data is available for download from the sites listed below.

Two options for downloading SSURGO data:

Depending on the projection / coordinate system of the data that you require and your area of interest, these factors will dictate the choice of data clearing-house. However, some more sophisticated GIS software permit "on-the-fly" projection.

  1. Vermont Center for Geographic Information (VCGI)
  2. USDA / NRCS

1. Vermont Center for Geographic Information:

State GIS Warehouse  on this site, search for Soils under Data Warehouse Tab

If your work is primarily in Vermont, you will probably wish to download SSURGO data from the Vermont Center for Geographic Information (VCGI). They have converted the SSURGO data into State Plane Meter (SPM) format, which is the standard for Vermont data. The soils data can be downloaded for free and includes:

  • map data (ArcInfo interchange files)
  • metadata (text files)
  • attribute data * (.dbf files)

* Of especial note, is the so-called "Top Twenty Table" included in the SSURGO attribute data. This is a condensed and easy to use single table, containing the most frequently used data attributes. On the VCGI site, search for Data Products.

Also available from their site, is a wealth of highly detailed (often at 1:5,000 scale) data layers for Vermont, such as roads and surface water.

To obtain high quality Digital Ortho Imagery:

The Vermont Mapping Program is the source for statewide ortho-photographs.  VGGI does not distribute the orthophoto imagery from the Vermont Mapping Program (VMP). However, VCGI is now distributing reformatted National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery. This imagery is not as high in resolution as the VMP imagery but it is in color.

Vermont Mapping Program

Please Note: Digital Orthophoto Base Map Imagery  (1:5,000 scale, Vermont SPM format) which is used for much of the in-state data development, is available from the Vermont Mapping Program

2. USDA / NRCS DataMart site

Datamart - on this site, you will be prompted the area of interest and which type of format you require.

If you are working on multi-state projects, the NRCS DataMart site is the source for SSURGO soils data for the entire country.

This data is available at 1:24,000 or 1:12,000 scale. Although as mentioned above, in Vermont the data were developed with the intended publication scale of 1:20,000. A "scale waiver" was permitted for many Vermont counties, to allow this non-standard scale and make soil data compatible across Vermont.

A complete SSURGO data set consists of:

  •  map data (as ArcView shape files, ArcInfo Interchange files or ArcInfo Coverages)
  • attribute data (dbf files - a multitude of separate tables)
  • database template (MS Access format - this helps with understanding the structure and linkages of the various tables)
  • metadata

CDs of SSURGO data by county can be ordered for $50. SSURGO map data are available in as Arc interchange files (.e00) and now at the Data Mart site as Coverages and Shape Files as well.

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