Soil Maps & GIS Data

Note: There is no soil map that covers the core urban area of the city of Ottawa. Instead, you can use the Ontario Geotechnical Boreholes to find soil samples.

1. Soil Map of Carleton County
   Scale: 1:126,720
   Date: 1944
   This is the only map that provides soil information for some of the downtown areas of the City of Ottawa
2. Soils, Capability and Land Use in the Ottawa Urban Fringe
   Scale: 1:25,000
   Date: 1979
   This report includes a soil map and legend for the former cities of Nepean and Gloucester. The report also includes soil capability for agriculture and old land use information for Nepean and Gloucester.
3. Soils of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton - excluding the Ottawa Urban Fringe
   Scale: 1:50,000
   Date: 1987
   This report includes soil maps and text for the rest of the new City of Ottawa;excluding the old cities of Ottawa, Nepean and Gloucester. It includes the old City of Kanata and the old townships of West Carleton, Goulbourn, Rideau, Osgoode and Cumberland.
4. Agricultural Land Use Systems of the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton
   Scale: 1:50,000
   Date: 1980
   This report includes maps and text for the former cities of Nepean, Rideau and West Carleton.
5. GIS Data - Ontario Soil Survey Complex (ONSoils) 2015 - also available (2003) via
   The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in cooperation with the Ministry of Natural Resources, are compiling a high quality, detailed, geo-spatial soils database for Southern Ontario. This new database consolidates the existing digital soil data mapped on a county basis onto a digitally stitched and standardized product.
6. GIS Data - ​Clipped version of the Land Capability for Agriculture - Canada Land Inventory (1:50,000) for the rural part of Ottawa. Further details.

1. Ontario Soil Survey Complex
   The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in cooperation with the Ministry of Natural Resources, are compiling a high quality, detailed, geo-spatial soils database for Southern Ontario. This new database consolidates the existing digital soil data mapped on a county basis onto a digitally stitched and standardized product.
2. Soil Maps for Ontario
   Soil maps of Ontario are included in the Ontario soil surveys which are done by county. To find these soil surveys you must identify the county your place/area is in.
3. Ontario Geotechnical Boreholes
   This is not a soil map but does contain data for soil samples across Ontario.
4. Soil Survey Reports for Ontario
   Can view reports and often download data for soil surveys across Ontario, 1940s-1990s

1. National Soil Database
   "The NSDB is a collection of geospatial datasets which contain soil, landscape, and climatic data for all of Canada. It serves as the national archive for land resources information that was collected by federal and provincial field surveys, or created by land data analysis projects."
2. Soil Landscapes of Canada (SLC)
   The SLCs are a series of maps that show the major characteristics of soil and land for the whole country. SLCs were compiled at a scale of 1:1 million, and information is organized according to a uniform national set of soil and landscape criteria based on permanent natural attributes.
3. Soil Surveys from Other Provinces
4. Canada Land Inventory (G3401.D4, G3401.E63, G3401.G4, G3401.J3, G3401.K1)
   Land inventory of rural Canada, covering over 2.5 million square kilometers of land and water. Land capability for agriculture, forestry, wildlife, recreation, wildlife (ungulates and waterfowl) was mapped. This is an old product that was conducted in 1960’s, 1970’s and early 1980’s, but it is still useful.

1. Soil Survey of the United States of America
   Web Soil Surveys and Historical Soil Survey Publications from the United States Department of Agriculture.
2. Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO) for the United States
   The SSURGO dataset is a compilation of soils information collected over the last century by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
3. Harmonized World Soil Database (HWSD) - also available via the United Nations (.rar files can be treated like .zip files)
   HWSD is a raster database with over 16,000 different soil mapping units that combines existing regional and national updates of soil information worldwide (SOTER, ESD, Soil Map of China, WISE). Supplementary data includes Soil Quality, Land Cover and Terrain Data. Scale 1:5,000,000
4. ISRIC - Soil Data Hub
   Search and download ISRIC (International Soil Reference and Information Centre) data sets. In collaboration with its partners, ISRIC has been working for over 50 years on compiling and harmonising data on soils and their properties.
5. European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC)
   The European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC) is the thematic centre for soil related data in Europe. Its ambition is to be the single reference point for and to host all relevant soil data and information at European level.
6. NASA EarthData - Soil Collection Datasets List
   The ORNL DAAC archives data on the biogeochemistry, physical, and chemical properties of soils. The data range from local-scale studies to gridded global products.
7. An Open Compendium of Soil Datasets
   This is a public compendium of global, regional, national and sub-national soil samples and/or soil profile datasets (points with Observations and Measurements of soil properties and characteristics).