Measured pedons
NCSS laboratory characterization is live with methods, sampled horizons, detection behavior, and point provenance intact.
Version 0.2.0 · Experimental
A small contract with full provenance.
The generated OpenAPI schema is the technical source of truth. This page summarizes the live surface and its scientific boundaries.
Service and catalogs
Discover the contract.
GET /healthOpenSoil process health and application version; does not call an upstream provider.GET /v1API version, maturity, documentation, supported providers, and experimental warning.GET /v1/providersSupported, planned, and researched soil-source catalog with access and limitation metadata.GET /v1/propertiesDeveloping canonical vocabulary, units, aliases, conversion notes, method warnings, and support status.
Location data
Normalized and raw remain separate.
GET /v1/soil/locationValidated point, provider, property, and depth query returning canonical mapped-survey observations with cache and warnings.GET /v1/providers/{provider_id}/raw/locationThe exact provider JSON inside a clearly labeled OpenSoil wrapper; raw provider schemas are not normalized or stable.
Current limits: one provider, eight properties, 0–200 cm, one WGS84 point, 120 requests/minute at the application boundary, and an additional Nginx burst limit. All may change while experimental.
Observed laboratory data
Pedons are points, not area estimates.
GET /v1/pedonsBounded GeoJSON search for NCSS laboratory pedons using a WGS84 bounding box and explicit result limit.GET /v1/pedons/{pedon_key}Observed horizon values with analytical method codes, reported-value qualifiers, source sample keys, depth, and warnings.GET /v1/providers/{provider_id}/raw/pedons/{pedon_key}Original SDA laboratory table rows in a separately labeled raw wrapper.
Scientific boundary: a pedon is not representative of its search box, field, series, or map unit without additional evidence. Older coordinates may be approximate.
Next providers
Support must be earned.
Soil-series descriptions/classification, SCAN, and USGS geochemistry are next in the U.S. source sequence. SoilGrids will use a dependable raster ingestion path rather than assume its beta REST service is stable.
Sensor time series
Station, sensor, depth, timestamp, timezone, and quality flags for moisture and temperature.
Survey polygons
Bounded SSURGO geometries and property summaries will extend GeoJSON from observed points to mapped areas.