Version control repository for Official Series Descriptions (OSDs).
Official "Soil Series" are the detailed soil types used by the USDA-NRCS and the National Cooperative Soil Survey program. The "Soil Series" is the lowest level in the United States National Soil Classification System hierarchy. Series names are correlated to soil survey map unit components based on specific conditions found within soil survey areas (SSA) and Major Land Resource Areas (MLRAs). More information on the concept and standards for the Soil Series can be found in the National Soil Survey Handbook Part 614 "Applying Soil Taxonomy".
Key differentia between series are encoded in the narrative portions of OSDs. OSDRegistry provides a readily-accessible, open-source, version-controlled resource for Series concepts in OSDs.
You can download the weekly release of a "snapshot" of all OSDs (as .txt files) here.
These files are parsed and stored as JSON in the ncss-tech/SoilKnowledgeBase repository and can be queried using the ncss-tech/soilDB R package get_OSD() method.
You can also download the weekly "snapshot" of the "Series Classification" database table (as .csv file) here. The SC database is used for validation of the plain-text data in the OSDs in ncss-tech/SoilKnowledgeBase.
Soil Survey Staff, Natural Resources Conservation Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Official Soil Series Descriptions. Available online. Accessed [month/day/year].