About

Our soil

Soil is one of our most valuable natural resource assets.

The sustainable management of Australian soil is vital for food security, climate change adaptation, economic and environmental prosperity, and many national and global priorities.

What is ANSIS

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

ANSIS will provide:

• Improved access to nationally consistent soil data and information
• Access to more soil data sets than in other soil systems
• Organised and standardised data for immediate use
• Trusted data from an authoritative source.

ANSIS is being developed through a collaboration between government, research organisations, industry, the private sector, and the community.

What can ANSIS do

ANSIS data will be nationally consistent, standardised and accessible through a trusted system – ANSIS will be the new place to find soil data and information.

Users will be able to view and download nationally consistent soil data and information through a web portal.

ANSIS will enable you to do a range of activities with soil data and information including:

• View maps or download data
• Export data for modelling or analysis
• Use an Application Programming Interface (API) to import data from ANSIS into your own system
• Easily connect to the latest data using your preferred GIS and modelling applications.

Who ANSIS is for

ANSIS is publicly available for all. ANSIS data can be used for a range of applications by different people including:

• Policy makers requiring soil data and information to make more informed evidence-based decisions
• Natural Resource Management groups requiring soil data and information for natural capital accounting, risk assessments, and environmental modelling
• Farmers and farm advisors wanting to compare the condition of their soil with a similar soil type or other soils in the region
• Researchers requiring standardised data and information on soil properties relevant to research priorities including food security, climate change adaption, and biodiversity.   

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

How will ANSIS bring benefit

 ANSIS will enable you to make more informed decisions. 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 policy makers

ANSIS can help policy makers make 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 will be 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.