Geospatial Soil Quality Analysis: A Roadmap for Integrated Systems

TL;DR

This paper proposes a unified, modular pipeline integrating GIS, remote sensing, and machine learning for scalable, transparent soil quality assessment, advancing sustainable land management practices.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive roadmap that consolidates recent technological advancements into an integrated soil quality evaluation system, addressing current limitations.

Findings

Developed a modular pipeline for soil quality assessment

Demonstrated practical applications of the integrated system

Identified future trends and challenges in soil quality analysis

Abstract

Soil quality (SQ) plays a crucial role in sustainable agriculture, environmental conservation, and land-use planning. Traditional SQ assessment techniques rely on costly, labor-intensive sampling and laboratory analysis, limiting their spatial and temporal coverage. Advances in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, and machine learning (ML) enabled efficient SQ evaluation. This paper presents a comprehensive roadmap distinguishing it from previous reviews by proposing a unified and modular pipeline that integrates multi-source soil data, GIS and remote sensing tools, and machine learning techniques to support transparent and scalable soil quality assessment. It also includes practical applications. Contrary to existing studies that predominantly target isolated soil parameters or specific modeling methodologies, this approach consolidates recent advancements in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing technologies, and machine learning algorithms within the entire soil quality assessment pipeline. It also addresses existing challenges and limitations while exploring future developments and emerging trends in the field that can deliver the next generation of soil quality systems making them more transparent, adaptive, and aligned with sustainable land management.