SA-format soil and land attributes
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Summary
SA-format soil and land attribute datasets describe key characteristics relating to distinct elements in the landscape, also known as ‘landscape components’ (e.g. flats, rises, swales, sandhills). Over 40 soil attributes of importance for land use and natural resource management are ascribed to these landscape components.
This page will help you:
- understand how SA-format soil data is structured (classified)
- access SA-format soil data.
Classification system for SA-format data
SA-format datasets have been developed via the State Land and Soil Mapping Program, based on criteria contained within Maschmedt 2002, and are available for viewing on NatureMaps and download via Data.SA.
The SA-format datasets have been developed using a rating or classification system which highlights different conditions within a given attribute. This system is based on the US Department of Agriculture generic land classification scheme, but greatly expands on the utility of this scheme by applying classes to specific attributes.
Each dataset contains one ‘mapping category’ field plus multiple ‘analysis data class’ fields (see example below), which is applied to each landscape mapping unit (areas with similar soils, topography, geology, vegetation, land use and climate). For more information on mapping units, visit the ‘Mapping soil and land’ webpage. The mapping category indicates the average condition in each polygon, while the data analysis class fields indicate the proportion of each polygon within a specific attribute class (see example below). The analysis data classes are used to create spatial data statistics from the dataset.
Example dataset: Soil available water holding capacity (Data SA)
The soil available water holding capacity dataset consists of six mapping categories:
| Mapping Category | Analysis Data Class | Average Available Water Holding Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| A | M1 | High (>100 mm) |
| B | M2 | Moderate (70-100 mm) |
| C | M3 | Moderately low (40-70 mm) |
| D | M4 | Low (20-40 mm) |
| E | M5 | Very low (<20 mm) |
| X | MX | Not applicable |
The image below shows a snippet of the data attribute table, indicating the soil landscape map units, mapping categories and analysis data class values assigned to each polygon. In this example, the polygon corresponding to the top row (LANSLU NUNUJJ) is predominantly classed as C (moderately low available water holding capacity). This mapping category is assigned by applying an 'area weighting' to the median value in each category, as 45% of the polygon is classed as M2, 40% is classed as M3 and 15% is classed as M3.
The total score for the first polygon (LANSLU NUNUJJ) is therefore:
- (0.45 x mid-point for M2) + (0.40 x mid-point for M3) + (0.15 x mid-point for M4)
- (0.45 x 85) + (0.4 x 55) + (0.15 x 30) = 64.75 mm (mapping cetegory C).
The following factsheets provide more information on how to interpret the polygon data calculate statistics in ArcGIS:
Links to access SA-format soil and landscape data
The following drop-down lists provide links to soil data, maps, metadata and factsheets for each of the soil and landscape attributes.
Page Updated: May 2026
