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Hello Visitor,
The iSQAPER project and its research teams are proud to announce the official launch of SQAPP: the soil quality app on 5 December 2020, in celebration of World Soils Day.
SQAPP: the soil quality app
SQAPP is the flagship product of the iSQAPER research programme; an innovative soil quality app for mobile devices developed, tested, evaluated and improved by farmers, agricultural service providers, scientists and policy makers.
SQAPP:
- Gives users free access to soil maps and contextual soil quality information.
- Assesses the most probable threats to soil quality with explicit links between soil quality status and agricultural management.
- Provides targeted advice on how to improve soil quality status with different agricultural management practices.
- Has the capacity for users to interact with the databases, uploading local data to refine the soil quality analysis and recommendations.
SQAPP for all
SQAPP: the soil quality app can be used by anyone to find information about the quality of soil beneath their feet (or anywhere else in the world), the main threats it faces, the potential for its improvement and recommended agricultural management practices to adopt.
However, it was designed with four core types of users in mind and whom we address directly in these articles on iSQAPERiS:
For farmers and land users, SQAPP can provide a comparative soil quality assessment of all your land. This allows you to compare the soil quality of your fields with others under the same land use, in similar soil types and climate zones. By drawing on a database of hundreds of examples of agricultural management practices (AMPs) that have been proved to increase soil quality, SQAPP recommends practices that would suit your local situation and goals.
»SQAPP for farmers & land users
Advisors and technicians can use SQAPP as a tool to assist in working with farmers and land users. Firstly, SQAPP gives you access to global soil data and constitutes a quick-scan tool for relative soil quality assessments. Secondly, by drawing on a database of hundreds of examples of agricultural management practices (AMPs) that have been proven to increase soil quality, SQAPP recommends practices that would suit the area you operate in.
»SQAPP for advisors & technicians
SQAPP is a valuable source of data and information for students and researchers. Firstly, SQAPP gives you access to global soil data and relative soil quality information, making it a convenient first-stop data source. Secondly it provides information about the principal soil threats at a location or study site of interest. Thirdly, it makes an explicit link between hundreds of examples of agricultural management practices (AMPs) and the effects they can have on improving soil quality in different conditions.
»SQAPP for students & researchers
Awareness of soil quality, soil threats and agricultural management practices (AMPs) that can be implemented to improve poor conditions is essential for policy makers to make informed decisions. You may furthermore be interested in the potential of SQAPP to act as an interactive soil quality assessment tool, (i.e. its potential for self-reporting). SQAPP gives you the option to have bi-directional exchange of soil data with farmers and land users. It also provides relative quality and soil threat information, allowing you to plan priority interventions.
»SQAPP for policy makers
Video clip
What is SQAPP? This animation gives an overview of the reasons for SQAPP's development and how it can be used.
Find out more about SQAPP
All the information about SQAPP including how it was developed, tested and evaluated by different user groups, its design, architecture and data, can be found on the iSQAPERiS website.
»SQAPP: the soil quality app
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iSQAPER websites
Project website: www.isqaper-project.eu
Information system website: www.isqaper-is.eu
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