  Spatial soil sampling is an integral part of a soil survey aimed at creating
a soil map. We propose considering the soil sampling procedure as a task of
optimal design. In practical terms, optimal experiments can reduce
experimentation costs, as they allow the researcher to obtain one optimal set
of points. We present a sampling design, based on the fundamental idea of
selecting sample locations by performing an optimal design method called the
maxvol algorithm. It is shown that the maxvol-base algorithm has a high
potential for practical usage. Our method outperforms popular sampling methods
in soil taxa prediction based on topographical features of the site and deals
with massive agricultural datasets in a reasonable time.
