What is it about?

This website provides a simple API for querying soil physical profile data in the Netherlands.

How are these soil profiles derived?

These soil profiles are the modal values for 368 soil mapping units derived by De Vries (1999). Note that these profiles are not actual field obervations, but merely derived from field observations. That's why they are called derived soil profiles. Each soil mapping unit has a derived soil profile which is assumed to be typical for that unit.

How does it work?

The API should be called by submitting a location as latitude and longitude (decimal degrees). We provide examples for several computer languages. Click on the language logos below to review examples of code snippets:

Bulk downloads are also possible. See for example this JavaScript code. You can even get soil physical profile data by directly typing a query in the address bar of your internet browser, e.g.:

              
  https://www.soilphysics.wur.nl/soil.php?latitude=52&longitude=5.5
              
            

                    
$.get("soil.php", {latitude: 52, longitude: 5.5})
.done(function(profile) {
  profile = $.parseJSON(profile);
  // do stuff
})
                    
                  

                    
curl "https://www.soilphysics.wur.nl/soil.php?latitude=52&longitude=5.5"
                    
                  

                    
# load packages
library(magrittr)
library(httr)
library(jsonlite)

# post-request
POST(
  url = "https://www.soilphysics.wur.nl/soil.php",
  body = list(latitude = 52, longitude = 5)) %>%
content(as = "text") %>%
fromJSON
                    
                  

                    
# import requests library
import requests 

# send get request 
r = requests.get(
    url = "https://www.soilphysics.wur.nl/soil.php",
    params = {"latitude": 52, "longitude": 5.5} ) 

# extract data in json format 
data = r.json() 

# further processing
print(data)
                    
                  

                    
using HTTP
HTTP.get("https://www.soilphysics.wur.nl/soil.php?latitude=52&longitude=5")
                    
                  

                    
$.post("soil.php", {latitude: [52, 52.5, 52.3], longitude: [5.5, 5.6, 5.5]})
.done(function(profile) {
    profile = $.parseJSON(profile);
    console.log(profile);
})
                    
                  

API in action

For simple queries, there is no need to access the API by source code. Click on the map below to view local soil physical data.

Tip: use your mouse wheel for zooming.

Related resources

Bodemdata.nl

All kinds of soil information available at a single location. Nurtured by Wageningen Environmental Research.

National Key Registry of the Subsurface (BROloket)

National data portal of hydrological, pedological, geological, and geomorphological data.