Land use and soil information
River Väike-Emajõgi basin
Land use data
Land use information is provided as 2 data sets:
ETAK_v_Emaj.shp (extract of Estonian Topographic Data Set – ETAK, actual time stamp of 2014) spatially more detailed (mapping scale 1: 10000), however lacking differentiation in forest types.
Land use information is in original form given in .shp file field “Kirjeldus” and its translation to English in Excel file “Land use and soil codes.xls” in worksheet “ETAK_translation”. Field “
CLC_v_Emaj.shp (extract of CORINE Land Cover data set, 2006) which have much lower spatial resolution (minimal land use unit size 25 hectares) and more aggregated land use units than ETAK data set but differentiates forests to three groups: coniferous forests, mixed forests and deciduous forests. Different to ETAK data set the CLC does not distinguish between actual forest or clear cutting and forest felling areas within forested areas.
CLC land use classification is most inappropriate in agricultural landscape where general land use class “Land principally occupied by agriculture, with significant areas of natural vegetation” is very heterogeneous in actual land use content.
Land use type is given in .shp file field “Clc2006_l”
Soil information
Soil taxonomy
Soil type and texture information is based on Estonian digital soil map in scale 1:10 000. In original data set Estonian national soil classification is used in which not all types have direct equivalent in WRB soil taxonomy (e.g. soil type in national system may correspond to 2 different WRB types if soil layers and texture of different layers is considered). Soil units distinguished on soil map may include smaller patches of other associated soil types which are not separately delineated due to their small area but they are listed in database as associated soil in .shp file in field “Siffer”.
As field “Siffer” in file “Soil_v_Emaj.shp”is the most detailed aggregated description of soil taxonomy this is the basis for generating WRB equivalent which is given in Excel file “Land use and soil codes.xls” in worksheet “Soil_Taxonomy”.
Fields “Sif”, “Sif2”, “Sif4” and “Sif4” in file “Soil_v_Emaj.shp”are the generalized description of any soil taxonomic units within the soil area delineated in map and is not used for generating WRB equivalent, however the same corresponding value as given in Excel file “Land use and soil codes.xls” in worksheet “Soil_Taxonomy” can be applied.
Fields “Osa1”, “Osa2”, “Osa3” and “Osa4” in file “Soil_v_Emaj.shp”are showing in % the share (by area) of associated soils (as given in “Sif”, “Sif2”, “Sif4” and “Sif4”) within the delineated soil mapping unit.
Soil texture
Soil texture is defined by upper layer of the soil profile. It is described in field “Loimis1” in file “Soil_v_Emaj.shp”and its English equivalent is given in Excel file “Land use and soil codes.xls” in worksheet “Soil_texture”. Fielt “Loimis2” corresponds to deeper layer (if existing) and could be related with English equivalent given in Excel file “Land use and soil codes.xls” in worksheet “Soil_texture” in the same way as “Loimis1” if required.