Structuring and Visualizing Knowledge in Soil Science

Abstract

Soil is a highly complex system. Myriads of articles are published each year on soil processes and properties, interactions between them and management practices influencing them. But, because of the sheer mass of information and the complexity of the system, it is hard to maintain an overview of reliable information on these interactions and their sensitivity to external forcings. To collect, structure and visualize scientific results on functional relationships, we develop a system based on a mySQL database, a soil thesaurus and two JavaScript-driven visualizations. The system is fueled by a comprehensive soil literature review and currently being organized as a community effort to improve the understanding of the soil system and support users in finding information on functional relationships and knowledge gaps in soil science.