Abstract. One of the largest challenges with soil information around the world is how to harmonize archived soil data from different sources and how make it usable to extract knowledge. In Ecuador there have been two major projects that provided soil information, whose methodology, although comparable, did not coincide, especially regarding the structure of how information was reported. Here, we present a new soil database for Ecuador, comprising 13 542 soil profiles with over 51 713 measured soil horizons, including 92 different edaphic variables. Original data was in a non-editable format (i.e., PDF) making it difficult to access and process the information. Our study provides an integrated framework combining multiple data analytic tools for the automatic conversion of legacy soil information from analog format to usable digital soil mapping inputs across Ecuador. This framework allowed to incorporate quantitative information of a broad set of soil properties and retrieve qualitative information on soil morphological properties collected in the profile description phase, which is rarely included in soil databases. A new harmonized national database was generated using specific methodology to rescue relevant information. National representativeness of soil information has been enhanced compared to other international databases, and this new database contributes to filling the gaps of publicly available soil information across the country. The database is freely available to registered users at https://doi.org/doi:10.6073/pasta/1560e803953c839e7aedef78ff7d3f6c (Armas, et al., 2022).

中文翻译：

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厄瓜多尔协调土壤数据库（HESD）：2009年至2015年数据

摘要。世界各地土壤信息面临的最大挑战之一是如何协调来自不同来源的存档土壤数据，以及如何使其可用于提取知识。在厄瓜多尔，有两个提供土壤信息的主要项目，其方法虽然具有可比性，但并不一致，特别是在信息报告的结构方面。在这里，我们为厄瓜多尔提供了一个新的土壤数据库，包括 13 542 个土壤剖面，超过 51 713 个测量的土壤层位，包括 92 个不同的土壤变量。原始数据采用不可编辑的格式（即 PDF），因此难以访问和处理信息。我们的研究提供了一个集成框架，结合了多种数据分析工具，用于将传统土壤信息从模拟格式自动转换为厄瓜多尔可用的数字土壤测绘输入。该框架允许结合广泛的土壤特性的定量信息，并检索在剖面描述阶段收集的土壤形态特性的定性信息，这些信息很少包含在土壤数据库中。使用特定方法生成了一个新的统一国家数据库，以挽救相关信息。与其他国际数据库相比，土壤信息的国家代表性得到了增强，这个新数据库有助于填补全国公开可用的土壤信息的空白。该数据库可在 https 上免费提供给注册用户：