We have recently stimulated the emergence of an unprecedented collaborative effort among soil scientists from all over Brazil. The goal: to build a centralized, public and free repository of standardized and georeferenced soil iron data with national coverage. Many Brazilian soil scientists have already shared datasets, some of them even before we could insert the datasets in possession of our institutions in what we called the Brazilian Soil Iron Data Repository (Fe-BR, ufsm.br/febr). Since December 2016, Fe-BR already has some 26 thousand records from about 300 datasets, most of them from the Brazilian Soil Information System maintained by Embrapa (bdsolos.cnptia.embrapa.br). Along this period, we have seen that soil scientists are eager to share the datasets in their possession but are very sensitive to the extra efforts needed to do so. As such, we have designed a system that relies on data manipulation tools that are well known to all -- spreadsheets. We also aimed at a suite of tools that meets the basic technological requirements of a robust but flexible data repository -- version control, persistent identification, multiple file export options, concurrent edition, reviewing tools. The free online service Google Sheets has been able to fulfil all of these requirements. With Google Sheets, datasets in Fe-BR can be reviewed and/or augmented at any time by anyone on the internet with the permission to do so. This participatory approach can potentially boost the development of a completely new type of community driven, free and open soil data repository. There has obviously been some difficulties, such as (1) motivating authors to provide comprehensive metadata and adhere to standards, (2) guessing spatial coordinates of non-georeferenced soil observations, (3) establishing communication between data sources, and (4) finding people willing to help in data organization and standardization. Solutions for (3) usually increase the need for more collaborators thus inflating (4). Solving (1) seems to depend upon consistent and persistent awareness raising. Fortunately the enthusiasm and sense of public responsibility of soil scientists, and availability of free online collaborative mapping services such as Google Maps, have made it easier to solve (2). Next steps include launching a metadata catalog with search tools and improving the febr package for R (github.com/samuel-rosa/febr). Soil scientists are encouraged to use Fe-BR data to improve taxonomic systems, evaluate analytical methods, produce soil maps, identify priority areas for sampling and so on.

1. Our Goal
- Build a centralized, public and free repository of
standardized and georeferenced soil iron data with
national coverage.
- Boost the development of a completely new type of
community driven, free and open soil data repository.
Building a Public Repository of Open Soil Iron
Data for Brazil
Alessandro Samuel-Rosa(1)
, Ricardo Dalmolin(1)
,
Paulo Gubiani(1)
, Stanley Oliveira(2)
, Humberto dos Santos(2)
, Eloi Ribeiro(3)
(1)
Federal University of Santa Maria, (2)
Embrapa, (3)
ISRIC World Soil Information
Since December 2016:
- Some 26 thousand records from circa 300 datasets.
- About 6 thousand georeferenced observations.
- Main source is Embrapa's Brazilian Soil Information System
(www.bdsolos.cnptia.embrapa.br).
- Over 20 soil scientists have already shared soil data.
Current Status
Data Manipulation Tools
We use Google Sheets to organize and publish the data:
- Easiness: spreadsheets are familiar to all.
- Flexibility/Robustness: concurrent edition and reviewing
tools, version control persistent identification.
The 10k Target
We target at reaching, by the end of 2017, the sum of 10 thousand
georeferenced observations containing some soil iron content data
covering the Brazilian territory.
Author email: alessandrosamuel@mail.ufsm.br Project website: www.ufsm.br/febr Project email: fe-br@googlegroups.com
Key Challenges
(1) Motivate authors to provide comprehensive metadata
and adhere to standards.
(2) Guessing spatial coordinates of non-georeferenced
soil observations.
(3) Establishing communication between data sources.
(4) Finding people willing to help in data organization
and standardization.
Products
Access, augment and review datasets:
- www.ufsm.br/febr/data.html
R package to download data:
- https://github.com/samuel-rosa/febr
Procedures manual:
- https://github.com/samuel-rosa/febr-book
This project is being developed under the auspices of the Postgraduate Program
in Soil Science of the Federal University of Santa Maria as part of the National
Postdoctoral Program (PNPD) of the Coordination for Advancement for High
Level Personnel (CAPES) of the Ministry of Education of Brazil.
Av. Roraima nº 1000, Prédio 42, Sala 3308
Cidade Universitária, Bairro Camobi
Santa Maria - RS, CEP 97105-900
Phone: +55 (55) 3220-8157
Email: ppgcs@ufsm.br