Predictive Soil Mapping Seminar: Summary Report

Traditional soil mapping has been conducted in Alberta for decades and has provided valuable information to support industrial development plans and regulatory oversight. However, recent advances in remote sensing, modelling and data processing capabilities have produced opportunities to develop soil maps cheaper, faster, more effectively, and with greater reproducibility. Predictive Soil Mapping (PSM) is a suite of tools that allow for streamlining the entire soil mapping workflow – from sample design, to efficiencies in field data collection, field sampling, identification and numbering of samples from initial site ID, through lab processing to database entry, and finally to map production.
A Seminar was held at the InnoTech Alberta facility in Edmonton on March 6, 2019 and was also accessible through a webinar to invited participants. A total of 148 people had registered to participate in the Seminar.  The objective of the seminar was to develop a collective understanding of the benefits and opportunities of Predictive Soil Mapping (PSM) as they relate to Alberta. It was not intended to be a high level training session in PSM; rather, it was intended to be an introduction to highlight the benefits and advantages offered by PSM in comparison to conventional soil mapping methods.