WARIS - a computer based storage and retrieval system for soils and related data

Abstract

An interactive computer system for the storage, retrieval and manipulation of soil profile data is described. The input data to the system can be in any format designated by the user provided it satisfies a few simple guidelines. The system is flexible enough to answer a wide range of user enquiries. Over the years it has developed into a general-purpose resource information system for processing 'point and profile' data which is economical and easy to use. It is particularly suitable for soil, vegetation and land resource surveys, as it can easily handle data for a number of depths per site. The programs can be used to retrieve, sort, manipulate and decode morphological data recorded according to the Australian Soil and Land Survey Field Handbook. These profile data can be linked to laboratory data and displayed either as a complete decoded description for each site, or as tables, graphs, and frequency distributions of selected characteristics by soil groups or mapping units. All programs are written in Fortran-77 and hence are reasonably easy to port to other computers.