U.S. General Soil Map (STATSGO2) Description 

Data Product Keywords 

Soils, land resource regions, major land resource area, properties, interpretations. 

Summary 

The U.S. General Soil Map consists of general soil association units. It was developed by the National 

Cooperative Soil Survey and supersedes the State Soil Geographic (STATSGO) dataset published in 1994. It 

consists of a broad-based inventory of soils and non-soil areas that occur in a repeatable pattern on the 

landscape and that can be cartographically shown at the scale mapped. 

Extent of Program 

National. 

Available Product Coverage 

U.S. General Soil Map (STATSGO2) data are available for the conterminous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, 

Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Individual state extents are also available. 

Information Content 

The dataset was created by generalizing more detailed soil survey maps. Where more detailed soil survey 

maps were not available, data on geology, topography, vegetation, and climate were assembled, together 

with Land Remote Sensing Satellite (LANDSAT) images. Soils of like areas were studied, and the probable 

classification and extent of the soils were determined. 

Map unit composition was determined by transecting or sampling areas on the more detailed maps and 

expanding the data statistically to characterize the whole map unit. 

This dataset consists of geo-referenced vector and tabular digital data. The map data were collected in 1- by 

2-degree topographic quadrangle units and merged into a seamless national dataset. It is distributed in 

state/territory and national extents. The soil map units are linked to attributes in the tabular data, which give

the proportionate extent of the component soils and their properties. 

The tabular data contain estimated data on the physical and chemical soil properties, soil interpretations, and

static and dynamic metadata. Most tabular data exist in the database as a range of soil properties, depicting 

the range for the geographic extent of the map unit. In addition to low and high values for most data, a 

representative value is also included for these soil properties. 

Product Delivery Format 

Spatial data are available in ESRI® shapefile format. Spatial reference is decimal degrees, North American 

U.S. General Soil Map (STATSGO2) Description | NRCS Soils Page 1 of 2

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Datum of 1983. Tabular data are available as text files (.txt) in ASCII, pipe (|) field delimited format, and 

double quote text delimited format. A Microsoft® Access® template database has been prepared for use with

the U.S. General Soil Map tabular data and is available from the Soil Data Mart. 

Technical Information 

To obtain technical information about the use of soil data, please contact the NRCS State Soil Scientist in 

your state, or: 

Soils Hotline Staff

Telephone: (402) 437-5378 (Steve Speidel) or (402) 437-5379 (Tammy Cheever) 

Ordering Information 

To obtain U.S. General Soil Map (STATSGO2) spatial and attribute data: 

z Soil Data Mart (download only) or 

z Geospatial Data Gateway (download, CD-ROM, or DVD) 

Media Price 

The cost is $50 for single CD-ROM or $100 for single DVD disk which may contain one or more survey areas, 

depending on file size. 

U.S. General Soil Map (STATSGO2) Description | NRCS Soils Page 2 of 2

http://soils.usda.gov/survey/geography/statsgo/description.html 6/13/2011