The Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) makes one wonder how people coped before it existed. Africa Soil offers an enormous abundance of peer-to-peer information and services, namely data and maps that are georeferenced. The site fills a much needed gap because knowledge about the condition of African soils because it tends to be fragmented and outdated. AfSIS aims at giving the tools needed to maintain the health of the soil resource base as science and technological developments in remote sensing are providing new opportunities for low cost and efficient applications such as digital soil mapping, infrared spectroscopy, remote sensing, statistics, and integrated soil fertility management. Through such efforts areas of risk can be predicted and monitored.The Globally Integrated Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) is a “large-scale, research-based project to  develop a practical, timely, and cost-effective soil health surveillance service to map soil conditions, set a baseline for monitoring changes, and provide options for improved soil and land management in Africa.”

AfSIS’s efforts of dissemination and training allow access to farm communities, public and private extension services, national agricultural research and soil survey organizations, the fertilizer sector, project and local planners, national and regional policymakers,and scientists. It is used in Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Mozambique, and Ghana in partnership with several academic institutions. Through the success of the project , a global mapping effort has emerged.

Some impressive activities include:

• producing digital soil maps and environmental covariates
• developing, implementing and maintaining the cyber-infrastructure to operate this effort
• developing a spatial database of soil management experiments
• linking the soil management info to the digital maps
• developing information dissemination mechanisms including websites, method manuals and guidelines, policy brief and a digital atlas
• mainstreaming the soil health information system