An overview of pedometric techniques for use in soil survey

Quantitative techniques for spatial prediction in soil survey are developing apace. They generally derive from geostatistics and modern statistics. The recent developments in geostatistics are reviewed particularly with respect to non-linear methods and the use of all types of ancillary information. Additionally analysis based on non-stationarity of a variable and the use of ancillary information are demonstrated as encompassing modern regression techniques, including generalised linear models (GLM), generalised additive models (GAM), classification and regression trees (RT) and neural networks (NN). Three resolutions of interest are discussed. Case studies are used to illustrate different pedometric techniques, and a variety of ancillary data. The case studies focus on predicting different soil properties and classifying soil in an area into soil classes defined a priori. Different techniques produced different error of interpolation. Hybrid methods such as CLORPT with geostatistics offer powerful spatial prediction methods, especially up to the catchment and regional extent. It is shown that the use of each pedometric technique depends on the purpose of the survey and the accuracy required of the final product. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.