{
  "cdh_schema_version": "v0.5.0",
  "extensions": [
    "https://cgiar-climate-data-hub.github.io/cdh-metadata-standard/v0.5.0/extensions/cdh/schema.json"
  ],
  "id": "soilgrids-wrb",
  "title": "WRB reference soil group probability maps (SoilGrids 2.0)",
  "version": "2.0",
  "series": {
    "name": "SoilGrids",
    "url": "https://www.isric.org/explore/soilgrids"
  },
  "description": "Probability of occurrence of each of 30 World Reference Base (WRB 2006) reference soil groups, and the most probable group per cell, for the globe on a 250 m grid. These are the soil classification maps of SoilGrids 2.0, but they are not new predictions: ISRIC summed the qualifier-level class probabilities predicted in the SoilGrids250m 2017 release (multinomial neural network and random forest ensemble on about 150,000 WoSIS profiles) into one map per reference soil group, and took the highest as the most probable group. Anthrosols, Technosols and Retisols are not included. Each map is a GDAL virtual raster (VRT) that mosaics a folder of GeoTIFF tiles in place, so it opens remotely with GDAL-based tools.\n",
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "resource_type": "dataset",
  "keywords": [
    "SoilGrids",
    "ISRIC",
    "WRB",
    "World Reference Base",
    "reference soil group",
    {
      "term": "soil classification",
      "scheme": "https://agrovoc.fao.org/",
      "uri": "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_7162"
    },
    {
      "term": "soil types",
      "scheme": "https://agrovoc.fao.org/",
      "uri": "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_7204"
    },
    {
      "term": "digital soil mapping",
      "scheme": "https://agrovoc.fao.org/",
      "uri": "http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_e4975629"
    }
  ],
  "note": "The underlying model is the 2017 one, not the quantile regression forests of the SoilGrids 2.0 property maps, and ISRIC says a new unified soil classification method is under development. The files are in EPSG:4326 although the ISRIC catalogue record states Homolosine. The VRTs reference their tiles by relative path, so open them over HTTPS with GDAL's /vsicurl rather than downloading the .vrt alone, and read windows. Probabilities of the 30 groups in a cell do not always sum to exactly 100 because of rounding.\n",
  "contact": [
    {
      "organization": "ISRIC - World Soil Information",
      "roles": [
        "licensor",
        "producer",
        "point-of-contact"
      ],
      "email": "soilgrids@isric.org",
      "url": "https://www.isric.org/"
    },
    {
      "name": "Brayden Youngberg",
      "roles": [
        "maintainer"
      ],
      "email": "b.youngberg@cgiar.org",
      "organization": "Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT"
    }
  ],
  "doi": "10.17027/isric-soilgrids.c4dc161c-d62d-11ea-a1a3-292680b15169",
  "citation": {
    "title": "SoilGrids250m 2.0 - WRB classes and probabilities",
    "authors": [
      {
        "family": "Poggio",
        "given": "L."
      },
      {
        "family": "de Sousa",
        "given": "L. M."
      }
    ],
    "date": "2020-05-04",
    "publisher": "ISRIC - World Soil Information",
    "url": "https://doi.org/10.17027/isric-soilgrids.c4dc161c-d62d-11ea-a1a3-292680b15169"
  },
  "related_publications": [
    {
      "doi": "10.5194/soil-7-217-2021",
      "citation": {
        "title": "SoilGrids 2.0: producing soil information for the globe with quantified spatial uncertainty",
        "authors": [
          {
            "family": "Poggio",
            "given": "L."
          },
          {
            "family": "de Sousa",
            "given": "L. M."
          },
          {
            "family": "Batjes",
            "given": "N. H."
          },
          {
            "family": "Heuvelink",
            "given": "G. B. M."
          },
          {
            "family": "Kempen",
            "given": "B."
          },
          {
            "family": "Ribeiro",
            "given": "E."
          },
          {
            "family": "Rossiter",
            "given": "D."
          }
        ],
        "date": "2021",
        "publisher": "SOIL"
      }
    },
    {
      "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0169748",
      "citation": {
        "title": "SoilGrids250m: Global gridded soil information based on machine learning",
        "authors": [
          {
            "family": "Hengl",
            "given": "T."
          },
          {
            "family": "Mendes de Jesus",
            "given": "J."
          },
          {
            "family": "Heuvelink",
            "given": "G. B. M."
          },
          {
            "family": "Ruiperez Gonzalez",
            "given": "M."
          },
          {
            "family": "Kilibarda",
            "given": "M."
          },
          {
            "family": "Blagotić",
            "given": "A."
          },
          {
            "family": "Shangguan",
            "given": "W."
          },
          {
            "family": "Wright",
            "given": "M. N."
          },
          {
            "family": "Geng",
            "given": "X."
          },
          {
            "family": "Bauer-Marschallinger",
            "given": "B."
          },
          {
            "family": "Guevara",
            "given": "M. A."
          },
          {
            "family": "Vargas",
            "given": "R."
          },
          {
            "family": "MacMillan",
            "given": "R. A."
          },
          {
            "family": "Batjes",
            "given": "N. H."
          },
          {
            "family": "Leenaars",
            "given": "J. G. B."
          },
          {
            "family": "Ribeiro",
            "given": "E."
          },
          {
            "family": "Wheeler",
            "given": "I."
          },
          {
            "family": "Mantel",
            "given": "S."
          },
          {
            "family": "Kempen",
            "given": "B."
          }
        ],
        "date": "2017",
        "publisher": "PLOS ONE"
      }
    }
  ],
  "created": "2026-10-13",
  "updated": "2026-10-14",
  "spatial": {
    "bbox": [
      -180,
      -56,
      180,
      84
    ],
    "geography": [
      "world"
    ],
    "crs": "EPSG:4326"
  },
  "temporal": {
    "date": "2020"
  },
  "structures": [
    {
      "name": "probability",
      "dimensions": [
        {
          "name": "cell",
          "type": "xy",
          "description": "7.5 arc-second cells (~250 m at the equator).",
          "step": 0.0020833333,
          "unit": "degree"
        },
        {
          "name": "rsg",
          "type": "soil_group",
          "description": "WRB reference soil group, the {rsg} token of the file names (WRB 2006 names, so Albeluvisols rather than Retisols).",
          "reference_system": "https://www.fao.org/soils-portal/data-hub/soil-classification/world-reference-base/en/",
          "data_type": "string",
          "values": [
            "Acrisols",
            "Albeluvisols",
            "Alisols",
            "Andosols",
            "Arenosols",
            "Calcisols",
            "Cambisols",
            "Chernozems",
            "Cryosols",
            "Durisols",
            "Ferralsols",
            "Fluvisols",
            "Gleysols",
            "Gypsisols",
            "Histosols",
            "Kastanozems",
            "Leptosols",
            "Lixisols",
            "Luvisols",
            "Nitisols",
            "Phaeozems",
            "Planosols",
            "Plinthosols",
            "Podzols",
            "Regosols",
            "Solonchaks",
            "Solonetz",
            "Stagnosols",
            "Umbrisols",
            "Vertisols"
          ]
        }
      ],
      "variables": [
        {
          "name": "probability",
          "description": "Predicted probability that the cell's soil belongs to the reference soil group, in percent.",
          "data_type": "uint8",
          "unit": "%",
          "nodata": 255
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "most-probable",
      "dimensions": [
        {
          "name": "cell",
          "type": "xy",
          "description": "7.5 arc-second cells (~250 m at the equator).",
          "step": 0.0020833333,
          "unit": "degree"
        }
      ],
      "variables": [
        {
          "name": "MostProbable",
          "description": "Reference soil group with the highest predicted probability in the cell.",
          "data_type": "uint8",
          "nodata": 255,
          "categories": [
            {
              "value": 0,
              "label": "Acrisols"
            },
            {
              "value": 1,
              "label": "Albeluvisols"
            },
            {
              "value": 2,
              "label": "Alisols"
            },
            {
              "value": 3,
              "label": "Andosols"
            },
            {
              "value": 4,
              "label": "Arenosols"
            },
            {
              "value": 5,
              "label": "Calcisols"
            },
            {
              "value": 6,
              "label": "Cambisols"
            },
            {
              "value": 7,
              "label": "Chernozems"
            },
            {
              "value": 8,
              "label": "Cryosols"
            },
            {
              "value": 9,
              "label": "Durisols"
            },
            {
              "value": 10,
              "label": "Ferralsols"
            },
            {
              "value": 11,
              "label": "Fluvisols"
            },
            {
              "value": 12,
              "label": "Gleysols"
            },
            {
              "value": 13,
              "label": "Gypsisols"
            },
            {
              "value": 14,
              "label": "Histosols"
            },
            {
              "value": 15,
              "label": "Kastanozems"
            },
            {
              "value": 16,
              "label": "Leptosols"
            },
            {
              "value": 17,
              "label": "Lixisols"
            },
            {
              "value": 18,
              "label": "Luvisols"
            },
            {
              "value": 19,
              "label": "Nitisols"
            },
            {
              "value": 20,
              "label": "Phaeozems"
            },
            {
              "value": 21,
              "label": "Planosols"
            },
            {
              "value": 22,
              "label": "Plinthosols"
            },
            {
              "value": 23,
              "label": "Podzols"
            },
            {
              "value": 24,
              "label": "Regosols"
            },
            {
              "value": 25,
              "label": "Solonchaks"
            },
            {
              "value": 26,
              "label": "Solonetz"
            },
            {
              "value": 27,
              "label": "Stagnosols"
            },
            {
              "value": 28,
              "label": "Umbrisols"
            },
            {
              "value": 29,
              "label": "Vertisols"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "cdh": {
    "domain": [
      "land",
      "agricultural-production"
    ],
    "usage": {
      "intended_uses": [
        "soil type inputs to crop, land evaluation, and ecosystem models at national to global scale",
        "stratifying or masking analyses by dominant soil group"
      ],
      "not_recommended_for": [
        {
          "use": "field-scale soil identification",
          "reason": "values are 250 m predictions from the 2017 model with modest class accuracy, not survey observations.",
          "use_instead": "national soil survey maps or local profile descriptions."
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "processing": [
    {
      "id": "source",
      "description": "SoilGrids250m 2017: ensemble of multinomial log-linear neural network (nnet) and random forest (ranger) models fitted on WoSIS soil profiles with WRB classes and global covariates, predicting per-class probabilities (Hengl et al. 2017).\n",
      "date": "2017-03-10",
      "derived_from": [
        {
          "title": "WoSIS soil profile database",
          "url": "https://www.isric.org/explore/wosis"
        },
        {
          "title": "SoilGrids250m 2017 TAXNWRB class probability layers",
          "url": "https://files.isric.org/soilgrids/former/2017-03-10/data/",
          "version": "2017-03-10"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "aggregate",
      "description": "The 2017 qualifier-level probabilities summed into one map per reference soil group, and the group with the highest probability written as MostProbable. Published as part of SoilGrids 2.0.\n",
      "date": "2020-05-04"
    },
    {
      "id": "regenerate",
      "description": "Layers regenerated with ISRIC's WRB mapping scripts to fix a distortion at low latitudes, and tiled as VRT mosaics.\n",
      "code": {
        "url": "https://git.wur.nl/isric/soilgrids/SoilGrids250m/-/tree/master/mapping/wrb"
      },
      "date": "2022-03-01"
    }
  ],
  "data": [
    {
      "name": "probability",
      "structures": [
        "probability"
      ],
      "locations": [
        {
          "url": "https://files.isric.org/soilgrids/latest/data/wrb/",
          "title": "HTTPS (WebDAV)"
        }
      ],
      "media_type": "image/tiff; application=geotiff",
      "processing_steps": [
        "source",
        "aggregate",
        "regenerate"
      ],
      "description": "4096x4096 GeoTIFF tiles, one folder per reference soil group at {rsg}/.",
      "file_index": [
        {
          "format": "vrt",
          "title": "One VRT per reference soil group beside its tile folder, with a .vrt.ovr overview file",
          "href_template": "{rsg}.vrt",
          "locations": [
            {
              "url": "https://files.isric.org/soilgrids/latest/data/wrb/",
              "title": "HTTPS (WebDAV)"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "most-probable",
      "structures": [
        "most-probable"
      ],
      "locations": [
        {
          "url": "https://files.isric.org/soilgrids/latest/data/wrb/MostProbable/",
          "title": "HTTPS (WebDAV)"
        }
      ],
      "media_type": "image/tiff; application=geotiff",
      "processing_steps": [
        "source",
        "aggregate",
        "regenerate"
      ],
      "description": "4096x4096 GeoTIFF tiles of the most probable group.",
      "file_index": [
        {
          "format": "vrt",
          "title": "VRT mosaicking the MostProbable tiles, with a .vrt.ovr overview file",
          "locations": [
            {
              "url": "https://files.isric.org/soilgrids/latest/data/wrb/MostProbable.vrt",
              "title": "HTTPS (WebDAV)"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "additional_assets": [
    {
      "name": "most-probable-legend",
      "roles": [
        "metadata",
        "describedby"
      ],
      "media_type": "application/json",
      "description": "Pixel value to reference soil group name for MostProbable.",
      "locations": [
        {
          "url": "https://files.isric.org/soilgrids/latest/data/wrb/MostProbable.rat.json"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "most-probable-style",
      "roles": [
        "visual"
      ],
      "media_type": "application/vnd.ogc.sld+xml",
      "description": "SLD colour style for the MostProbable map.",
      "locations": [
        {
          "url": "https://files.isric.org/soilgrids/latest/data/wrb/MostProbable.sld"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "most-probable-preview",
      "roles": [
        "overview"
      ],
      "media_type": "image/png",
      "description": "Global rendering of the MostProbable map.",
      "locations": [
        {
          "url": "https://files.isric.org/soilgrids/latest/data/wrb/MostProbable.png"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "name": "wms",
      "roles": [
        "visual"
      ],
      "description": "ISRIC WMS serving the WRB maps as rendered images.",
      "locations": [
        {
          "url": "https://maps.isric.org/mapserv?map=/map/wrb.map"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "additional_links": [
    {
      "title": "SoilGrids 2.0 soil property maps",
      "rel": "related",
      "id": "soilgrids",
      "description": "The quantile regression forest property predictions these class maps sit beside."
    },
    {
      "title": "ISRIC data catalogue record",
      "rel": "describedby",
      "url": "https://data.isric.org/geonetwork/srv/api/records/c4dc161c-d62d-11ea-a1a3-292680b15169"
    },
    {
      "title": "SoilGrids FAQ, soil classes in SoilGrids 2.0",
      "rel": "describedby",
      "url": "https://docs.isric.org/globaldata/soilgrids/SoilGrids_faqs_03.html",
      "description": "How the maps were aggregated from the 2017 predictions and what is planned next."
    },
    {
      "title": "Low-latitude distortion issue that prompted the 2022 regeneration",
      "rel": "about",
      "url": "https://git.wur.nl/isric/soilgrids/soilgrids-isric.org/-/issues/16"
    },
    {
      "title": "SoilGrids web map",
      "rel": "related",
      "url": "https://soilgrids.org/"
    }
  ]
}