Scientific registration n : 107

Symposium n : 35
Presentation : poster

Soil information system development and land

suitability mapping at the Ghana soil research institute
Dveloppement d'un systme d'information sols et
cartographie des potentialits des terres l'Institut de
Recherche sur les sols du Ghana
BOATENG E. (1), CHIDLEY T. R. E (2), SAVORY D. J. (3), ELGY J. (4)
(1) Soil Research Institute, P.O. Box M32, Accra,Ghana
(2)Dept. of Civil Eng. Aston University, Birmingham. B47ET, UK.
(3) Global GIS Consulting, Baltimore . USA
(4)Dept. of Civil Eng. Aston University -, Birmingham. B47ET, UK
I.

INTRODUCTION

The appropriateness of a particular land use form depends greatly and directly in the suitability
of the land to offer optimum opportunities for the particular land use form. Land suitability is
thus a useful fundamental factor in the management of the environment. Land suitability
assessment provide options as to the best way to put a particular land use. IN other words, it
refers to a predefined land utilization type. Agricultural land suitability will therefore deal with
the capabilities of the land reserved for agriculture to guarantee sustained growth of food crops,
export crops, and import substitution crops as well as livestock farming.
It is based upon this conception that the Soil Research Institute was commissioned to build a
national soils database to be derived from existing 1: 2500000 scale analogue soil maps and to
develop an automated spatial model for agricultural land suitability appraisal. The spatial soils
database will afford improved management and access to existing soil related data sets. The soil
information will be of great benefit to Ghanaian institutions associated with natural resource
management, land use planners and farmers.
To provide a means for assessing project methods during database development, a test area was
selected which includes the area shown on the Ghana Survey Department 1:250000 scale
topographic map of Greater Accra Region. The pilot area is comprised of the land within the
bounds of 5o N and 6o N parallels and 0o (Greenwich) and 1o E meridians. The soil map within
this area was digitized and linked with soil attribute database tables derived from existing soil
survey reports.
The work is supported financially by the Government of Ghana, DANIDA and World Bank.
The lead agency and coordinator for the EISD is the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency.
II.

SOIL INFORMATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

II.1 Map Digitizing

The Ghana Soil Research Institute (SRI) has been commissioned to build a national soils
database derived from their existing analog soil maps. To provide a means for assessing project
methods during database development, a test area was selected which includes the area shown

on the Ghana Survey Department 1:250,000 scale topographic map of the Greater Accra region.
This pilot area is comprised of the land within the bounds of the 5N and 6N parallels and
the 0 (Greenwich) and 1E meridians. The soil maps within this area have been digitized and
linked with soil attribute database tables derived from existing soil survey reports.
The SRI soil maps of Ghana consist of 35 separate 1:250,000 scale maps most of which are
delineated on the basis of watershed boundaries. Five of these soil maps Accra Plains,
Ayensu-Densu, Birim, Ochi-Nakwa, and Pawmpawm basins fell within the boundaries of the
EISD pilot area and so were the first to be digitized. In preparation for digitizing, the soil map
unit boundaries and 4 to 6 ground control points (tics) were carefully traced on clear film.
Tracing on clear film facilitates digitizing by isolating the map features of interest on a stable
media and provides a manuscript for the digitizer to record his/her progress by marking the
traced map. Traced soil maps were placed on a digitizing table and were manually traced again,
this time using the digitizing tablet.
Digitizing parameters were consistent for all maps. A spatial statistic known as the root mean
square (RMS), essentially a spatial form of the standard deviation, is used to insure consistent
interpretation of control points. The initial coverage coordinate system is in digitizer units
(inches) and an RMS of 0.003 or less was chosen as the acceptable limit. A few more
environmental parameters were set during digitizing: the node snap tolerance merges arc
nodes if they are within a set tolerance, a weed tolerance that controls the density of arc
vertices similarly, and an arc snap tolerance that automatically merges arcs that are close
together. These tolerances were set at 0.05, 0.01, and 0.05 inches, respectively.
After manual digitizing the raw arcs were processed by the computer to construct map topology,
i.e., soil map unit polygons were constructed and encoded within the digital map definition
files. The digital maps were also edited to correct node and label errors. Next, the digitized
map coverages were converted form digitizer coordinate (inches) to real world map coordinates
as defined by the Survey Departments Ghana War Office transverse Mercator. The
latitude/longitude tics that were originally traced from the paper maps were first projected from
lat./long to transverse Mercator. Next, a planar computation called an affine transformation was
used to rubber-sheet the digitized map features from digitizer coordinates to transverse
Mercator coordinates. A root mean square error (RMS) was recorded during transformation as
measure of the mean feature displacement.
With all the individual maps in the pilot area digitized, the next step was to join them into one
seamless coverage. A number of special considerations were necessary since the soil maps are
neither rectangular nor of uniform size. Visual examination of the adjoining maps boundaries
revealed that they did not match perfectly spatially or attribute-wise. Thus, manual
interpretation was required to join the maps. All five maps in the pilot area were plotted
together along with their soil type ID numbers. The plotted maps were visually interpreted to
identify arcs needing modification or removal. The digital version of the maps were then
combined and arcs were modified, moved, added,
and deleted as necessary along adjoining map boundaries.
Coastal shorelines were acquired from the Survey Department digital base maps and appended
to the soil maps. Soil boundaries along the coast were edited so that they conformed to these
shorelines. Finally, the edgematched maps were clipped to fit the pilot study area boundary
(Figure 1).

Figure 1 SRI Soil Map of the EISD Pilot Area

II.2 Soil Attribute Data Entry

In addition to digital map features, soil attribute data was needed to complete the soil
information system. These data were acquired from soil profile information found in existing
SRI Soil Survey reports and records. Information from the reports was interpreted, coded on
data entry forms and then manually entered into relational database management software
developed by the FAO: the FAO-ISRIC Soil Database Management System (SDBm). Data
entered includes information on soil site, horizon, analytical, physical, and soluble salt
attributes. Subsequently, these data were exported from SDBm to an Arc/Info GIS compatible
file format (DBF).
Concurrently, database tables containing the names of all unique Soil Associations (map unit
level) and Soil Series (profile description level) in the pilot study area were constructed using
the MS-Foxpro relational database software which also conforms with the DBF file format
standard. Unique soil identification numbers (ID) were assigned to each record and fields were
added to indicate map unit types and a general classification of the soil parent material (surficial
geology). A database design was developed using the Database Designer included with FoxPro.
Relationships between the various data sources were defined and organized. Database table
linkages must be given careful consideration when designing a spatially referenced soils
database such as this. This is due to the nature of soil taxonomic classifications, the taxonomic
level at which the soils were mapped, the level
at which soil attribute data was recorded, and the inherent 3-dimensional nature of soils data.
All these factors result in a complex set of relationships between soil profile attribute data, soil
type, soil map unit, and the soil maps themselves. Figure 2 depicts the database design and the
flow of soil profile data from the soil attribute tables (SDBm) to linkage with the database tables
of the digital soil maps. The tables are arranged such that all relationships are one-to-many
thereby facilitating data flow and database queries.

Figure 2 Soil Attribute Database Design

III. LAND SUITABILITY MAPPING

The goals of the EISD project at the Ghana Soil Research Institute include the development of
an automated spatial model for agricultural land suitability appraisal. As described above, the
soil maps within the pilot area have been digitized and linked with soil attribute database tables
derived from soil survey reports. These soils data were integrated with digital topographic and
climatic information to produce a GIS implementation of a land suitability model for rain-fed
agriculture. This land suitability assessment is based upon the Agro-Ecological Zone (AEZ)
approach developed for Kenya by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO, 1991). The
model assigns a suitability rating to land areas for a given land utilization type (LUT). Each
LUT consists of a specific variety of crop species (i.e., 100 day maize) and a level of
management input. Management input refers to the level fertilizer, pesticides and cultural
practices that are used during crop production (Table 1). The FAO suitability ratings generated
by the model are defined as follows: 1 is highly suitable with little yield loss, 2 indicates slight
limitations (> 75% potential yield), 3 indicates marginal suitability (>50% potential yield), 4
indicates minimal suitability (> 25% potential yield), and 5 is totally unsuitable (< 25%
potential yield).
Figure 3 Land Suitability for 100 Day Maize with High Input Level

The original AEZ procedure was automated and transformed into a spatial model that operates
within a GIS environment. The digital maps used for data input afford more accurate
environmental modelling and the generation of land suitability maps as output. Primary data
sources include SRIs digital soil maps and associated attribute database, elevation data in the
form of contours from the Survey Department, and climatic information such as length of
growing period and thermal zones from the Meteorological Services Department. Thematic
maps were derived from these data and were used as input to the land suitability model. The
soil map data was processed to yield thematic maps of FAO classified soil type, soil texture, and
coarse fragments. A digital elevation model (DEM) and slope maps were derived from the
elevation contours. Tabular climatic data was used to generate thermal zone, length of growing
period and growing period pattern maps. Model implementation is composed of two distinct
phases relational database processing of the soils data to produce an initial map of suitability
and spatial data processing involving GIS overlay of the initial suitability map with topographic
and climatic maps (Figure 4).
Table 1 - Attributes Of Typical Land Utilization Types (FAO 1978)
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ATTRIBUTE
LOW INPUTS
INTERMEDIATE INPUTS
HIGH INPUTS
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Production
Rainfed cultivation of maize, millet, sorghum, dryland rice, wetland rice, cowpea, Phaseolus bean, soya bean, green gram,
cassava, yam, sweet potato, white potato. Sole cropping and multiple cropping in appropriate rotations.
(Note how crops and farming system are specified)
Market Orientation

Subsistence production

Subsistence production plus

commercial sale of surplus

Commercial production

Capital Intensity

Low

Intermediate with credit

on accessible terms

High

Labour Intensity

High: uncosted family labour

Medium: uncosted family labour

Low: family labour costed

Power Source

Manual labour, hand tools

including harvesting.

Manual labour, hand tools and/

or animal traction with improved
implements, some mechanization.

Complete mechanization

High yielding cultivars

including hybrids. Optimum
fertilizer application.
chemical pest, disease and
weed control. Full
conservation measures.
Use of crop residues.

some mechanization
Technology

Local cultivars, no fertilizer or

chemical pest, disease and weed
control. Fallow periods. Minimum
conservation measures.

Improved cultivars as available,

Appropriate extension packages
including some fertilizer
application and some chemical
pest, disease and weed control
Some fallow periods and
conservation measures.

Infrastructure

Market accessibility not required

Inadequate advisory services

Some market accessibility necessary Market accessibility requirement

with access to demonstration
essential. High level
plots and services.
of advisory services
and application of
research findings.

Land Holding

Small, fragmented

Small, sometimes fragmented

Income Level

Low

Moderate

Large, consolidated

High

Figure 4 Flow Chart of Land Suitability Model

A GIS-BASED LAND SUITABILITY MODEL
FOR RAIN-FED AGRICULTURE
PRIMARY DATA

DERIVED DATA

Soil
Maps

Phase I:
Relational Database
Processing

Digitize

FAO Soil
Type

FAO Tables
Ratings

Maps
Soil
&
Information
Tables
System

Phase II:
Spatial Data
Processing

Vector
to
Raster

Initial
Suitability
Rating

Soil
Texture

Slope

Data Entry

Soil
Survey
Reports

Coarse
Fragments
Thermal Zone

Contour
Maps (SD)

Gradient Filter

Spatial
Interpolation

DEM
LGP

Meteorological
Database (MSD)

Spatial Interpolation

LGP Pattern

USERS & PLANNERS

Land
Suitability
Map

OUTPUT

During model development up to three soil series in each soil association in the pilot area were
assigned an FAO (1974) classification. Transformation of Ghanaian soil types to the FAO
system was carried out based on existing profile descriptions from the survey reports and soil
analytical data. If no data existed the conversion was based on landscape analysis and expert
judgement. Since up to three dominant soil series were assigned to each map unit, the rating
resulting from the database processing had to be spatially allocated. The ratings were assumed
to represent 100, 70/30 and 60/20/20 percent of map unit area for 1, 2, and 3 dominant soil
series, respectively (Table 2).
Table 2 - Percentage Distribution of Soil Series Within a Soil Association
Number of Series
1
2
3

Dominant Soil % Area

100
70
60

Associated Soil 1 % Area

0
30
20

Associated Soil 2 % Area

0
0
20

As implied by its name, the first phase consists of only database table processing. Thus, the
spatial referencing of the series was not a factor in obtaining initial suitability ratings. During
this phase the FAO suitability rating for specific LUTs was determined using the dominant soil
series in each map unit. Crop suitability tables from the AEZ-Kenya reports were the key to
providing a suitability rating for each LUT. Soils attribute database tables containing the FAO
types were related to the AEZ crop tables (Table 3) to determine initial crop suitability ratings.
These ratings represent area-wise percentages in each mapped unit for a given LUT. Next, soil
texture and amount of coarse fragments in each soil series were determined from the soil

attribute database tables and the initial FAO ratings were downgraded if the soil was dominated
by coarse textured soil or excessive coarse fragments. Subsequently, the ratings of the soil
series were summarized according to map unit and the soil map database table was updated.
Table 3 - Extract of an AEZ Soil Suitability Table for a Selection of LUTs
RIH

CPL

CPH

FAO 1974
Soil Type

Sorghum Sorghum Pearl

(low
(high
Millet
inputs)
inputs)
(low
inputs)

Pearl
Millet
(high
inputs)

Sugarcane Cassava Cassava Rice

(high
(low
(high
(low
inputs)
inputs) inputs) inputs)

Rice
(high
inputs)

Cowpea
(low
inputs)

Cowpea
(high
inputs)

Ge
Gc
Gd
Gm
Gh
Gx
Kk
Kl
Fa
Fp
Oe
Od
Ox

5
5
5
5
5
5
1
1
5
4
5
5
5

5
5
5
5
5
5
1
1
3
4
5
5
5

4
4
4
4
4
5
1
1
4
4
5
5
5

1
1
1
1
1
5
3
1
5
4
4
5
5

5
5
5
5
5
5
1
1
5
5
5
5
5

5
5
5
5
5
5
1
1
4
4
5
5
5

LUT

SOL

SOH

5
5
5
5
5
5
1
1
3
4
5
5
5

PML

5
5
5
5
5
5
1
1
5
4
5
5
5

PMH SCH

CVL

5
5
5
5
5
5
3
1
4
4
5
5
5

CVH

5
5
5
5
5
5
3
1
4
4
5
5
5

RIL

1
1
3
1
3
5
3
1
5
3
4
5
5

Output from the relational data processing described above was passed on to the spatial
processing phase as a rasterized soil map with an associated suitability rating table. The soil
map was digitally overlaid on a pixel-by-pixel basis with raster slope, thermal zone, length of
growing period (LGP), and LGP pattern maps. Slope gradient was derived from the DEM and
classified according to categories used in the AEZ model: 0-2%, 2-8%, 8-16%, 16-30%, and >
30%. The intermediate FAO ratings were downgraded if slope gradients were excessive with
respect to the LUT in question. Climatic attribute maps also reduced suitability ratings if the
mean temperature or the LGP was unsuitable for the LUT. LGP pattern refers to temporal
distributions of multiple growing periods, e.g., Ghana generally has one long and one short
rainy season with only a short hiatus between. The LGP pattern map often increased suitability
ratings for woody and/or perennial crops with long growing seasons such as cassava and oil
palm. Other special consideration was given to tree crops, herbaceous perennials, cash crops
and riparian soils (fluvisols) during both phases of the data processing. Appendix A of this
paper contains a flow diagram summarizing the model components and their inter-relationships.
A suitability index was calculated from the final FAO suitability ratings as follows:
SUITABILITY INDEX = (% FAO CLASS1 * 1.0) + (% FAO CLASS2 * 0.75) + (% FAO CLASS3 * 0.5) + (% FAO CLASS4 * 0.25).

The primary output is a raster land suitability map composed of four suitability categories based
on the index: highly suitable (>=75), moderately suitable (50-75), marginally suitable (25-50),
and unsuitable (<25) ( Figure 3). Five individual maps displaying the percent area of each FAO
suitability rating are also produced.
The model is driven by a program developed with Arc/Infos macro language (AML). The
program was run once for each of the 291 LUTs. A map display and plotting program with a
point-and-click interface was also developed for viewing and interpreting the multitude of maps
generated by the model.

IV. CONCLUSION
The spatial soils database will afford improved management and access to existing soil related
data sets. The land suitability model integrates the soils database of SRI with ancillary spatial
data to generate new data concerning land use. Future plans exist to expand the coverage of the
model to include other areas in Ghana and to check and verify the model both internally and in
the field. Tentative plans also exist to extend the model to produce estimates of crop yield in
terms of volume, calorific content and cash value. It would also be valuable to predict point
specific land use suitability using laboratory analysis of geo-referenced soil samples rather than
the soil map.
The methodology used for this work demonstrates clearly the ability of the EISD project to
integrate data from the Survey Department, the Meteorological Services Department, and the
Soil Research Institute. It also highlights the need for the contributing organizations to
formalize data sharing agreements to facilitate other such projects. Nevertheless, both the soil
information system and the land suitability model will be of great benefit to Ghanaian
institutions associated with natural resource management, land use planners and farmers.

REFERENCES
Adu, S. V. Asiamah R. D. (1992), Soils of the Ayensu / Densu Basin, Ghana. SRI Memoir No.9
Brammer, H. (1967) Soils of the Accra Plains. Ghana. SRI Memoir No.3
Kassam, A. H. (1991) Agro-Ecological Land Resources Assessment for Agricultural
Development
Planning. A Case Study of Kenya. FAO World Soil Resources Reports No. 71 (9 vols.)
FAO (1978) Report On The Agro-Ecological Zones Projct. Vol.1 Methodology and Results
for
Africa. World Soil Resources Report No.48
FAO (1984) Guidelines: Land Evaluation for Rainfed Agriculture. FAO Soils Bulletin No.52
FAO (1995) SDBm Multilingual Soil Database.
Usher, A. K. E. (1969) Climatic Maps of Ghana for Agriculture. Meteorological Services
Department, Ghana

Keywords : Geographic Information System, automated spatial model, pilot area, Land
Utilization Types, digital, suitability index, macro language
Mots cls : systme d'information gographique, modle spatial automatis, zone pilote,
type d'utilisation des terres, index de potentialit, programmation