About

The Australian National Soil Information System (ANSIS) provides access to nationally consistent soil data and information to support the sustainable management of one of our nation’s most precious assets. 

Our soil

Soil is one of our most valuable natural resource assets.

The sustainable management of Australian soil is vital to support national and global priorities including food security, climate change adaptation and mitigation, economic prosperity and environmental sustainability.

What is ANSIS?

ANSIS is the Australian National Soil Information System. It brings together soil data from across Australia, connecting multiple data sources to provide access to nationally consistent soil data and information. 

ANSIS has been developed through a collaboration between governments, research organisations, industry, the private sector, and the community.

What can ANSIS do?

ANSIS provides access to nationally consistent, standardised soil data through an access control, trusted mechanism – ANSIS is the new place to find readily useable soil data and information.

Users of ANSIS can:

  • Discover, filter, access and view relevant soil data
  • Download soil data in a standard format for use in modelling or analysis
  • Use an Application Programming Interface (API) to connect soil data through ANSIS into your own system or application
  • Easily connect to the latest available soil data using your preferred GIS and modelling applications.

Who is ANSIS designed for?

ANSIS is publicly available.  Soil data supports a range of applications by different users such as:

  • Policy makers requiring soil data for informed evidence-based decision making
  • Farmers and farm advisors wanting to use soil data to compare the condition of their soil with a similar soil type
  • Researchers requiring standardised data on soil properties for research priorities including food security and climate change adaptation.

Read more about use of ANSIS data and information for different stakeholders on the Data Stories webpage.

The benefits of ANSIS

ANSIS allows the discovery of soil data from multiple providers, which enables ANSIS users to make better informed decisions. With improved access to soil data and information, ANSIS provides a foundational information infrastructure to support sustainable soil management for future generations.

ANSIS for policy makers

ANSIS can help policy makers deliver more informed evidence-based decisions by providing access to standardised data and information on a range of soil properties relevant to policy priorities including, but not limited to:

  • Food security and agricultural productivity
  • Clean and secure water resources and marine management
  • Climate change adaptation, mitigation and resilience to shocks
  • Carbon sequestration: current and potential
  • Biodiversity, ecosystem functions and sustainably managing the environment.

ANSIS for researchers and natural resource management groups

ANSIS is the new trusted system to find nationally consistent, standardised, easy to use, and accessible soil data and information for a large range of soil properties that can be used for:

  • Natural capital accounting
  • Biosecurity risk and environmental risk and land suitability assessment
  • Environmental modelling
  • Targeting research and land management investments.

This information can help you better understand and account for soil, ensuring Australia’s soil is sustainably managed and enhanced for future generations.

ANSIS for farmers and land mangers

By using ANSIS data, farmers, farm advisors and land mangers will be able to:

  • Assess the impact of their land management practices or to consider opportunities for change and improvement
  • Monitor how their soil has changed over time
  • Utilise data to look at the best model for environmentally friendly and sustainable soil management and to gain required finance and market access credentials.