SIST EN ISO 28258:2014/A1:2020 PDF

Overview

EN ISO 28258:2013/A1:2019 - “Soil quality - Digital exchange of soil-related data (Amendment 1)” is a CEN-endorsed amendment to ISO 28258:2013. It updates the original standard’s information model, XML/XSD guidance and terminology to improve interoperability and clarity for the digital exchange of soil-related data across projects, organisations and software systems. The amendment was approved by CEN in September 2019 and adopted into national standards.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Scope: Focuses on the digital exchange of soil-related data (not general geotechnical or groundwater data) and requires use of an information model based on ISO 19156 (Observations and Measurements).
• Terminology updates: Several core terms were standardized (e.g., replacing “Profile” with SoilProfile, “ProfileElement” for layer/horizon constructs, and harmonising “SoilObservation”).
• Information model & packages: The amendment replaces and clarifies multiple figures (model overviews, sub-models, project, spatial relation, mapping, observation, sampling and soil profile details) to show how soil information integrates with existing geo-standards.
• Feature types & restrictions: Observations and sampling are explicitly restricted to feature types such as Site, Plot, SoilProfile, ProfileElement (Layer/Horizon) and SoilSpecimen. The process model maps to OM_Process (restricted to PreparationProcess).
• SoilML / XML guidance: Data providers are expected to extend the SoilML UML classes and reflect extensions in the XSD. The amendment references an XML namespace (“ISO 28258”) and provides XSD import patterns (GML, OM, sampling, specimen schemas).
• Units and depth encoding: Mandatory unit-of-measure (uom) attributes for depth elements are emphasised (examples show uom used with min/max depth).
• Soil mapping updates: Adds a geometry attribute (SoilMappingUnit geometry GM_Object 0..*) and clarifies that SoilMap extent describes the geographic envelope.
• Metadata quality: (Meta-)data quality should follow ISO 19157.
• Validation tools: Terminology changed from “Validation software (control tools)” to “Validation software (check tools)”.

Applications and users

• Data exchange between soil survey organisations, research institutions, environmental consultancies, GIS and earth observation teams.
• Implementation by soil scientists, GIS developers, data managers, IT integrators and national standards bodies for interoperable SoilML and XML-based data exchange.
• Use cases: soil mapping, sample and specimen exchange, observational datasets, national/regional soil data portals, environmental assessment and modelling pipelines.

Related standards

• ISO 19156 (Observations and Measurements) - base information model
• ISO 19157 (Data quality) - metadata quality guidance
• ISO 19100 family (geographic information standards) - spatial referencing and geometry
• SoilML (Soil Markup Language) - UML/XSD model referenced by the standard

Keywords: soil quality standard, ISO 28258 amendment, digital exchange of soil data, SoilML, soil data interoperability, soil profile, soil mapping, XML schema, ISO 19156, ISO 19157.