A protocol for converting qualitative point soil pit survey data into continuous soil property maps

Vineyard soil surveys to date have focused on presenting soil data in point rather than raster format. This is due to the recording of both numeric and categorical variables. A protocol, including a lookup table to transform linguistic texture values into particle size distributions, to convert point data into continuous raster maps is presented. The resulting maps are coherent with vineyard knowledge and provide a strong spatial representation of soil variability within the vineyard. Validation with an independent dataset shows an error of ~10% in prediction; however, some of this can be attributed to errors in the geo-rectification of old data. Raster maps allow the survey data to be incorporated into computer systems to better model vineyard and irrigation designs and are more readily used in day-to-day vineyard management decisions.