Açýklama:
This paper describes the establishment of a soil information system for Turkey, and the progress made in this work to date by the General Directorate of Rural Services (GDRS).
Initially for soil and water it will be termed the National Soil and Water Information System. A countries economic development is dependent on its wealth of natural resources and the appropriate use of these resources. Our countries rapid development is tied to the formation of a database containing correctly surveyed natural resources and maps and tied to the transformation to the users and planners. This ambitious project is of great significance for the modern state of Turkey as, until this system was initiated, there was no definitive, managed national information resource underpinning land and water resource management. A team of professional scientists and technologists has been assembled in the GDRS Headquarters in Ankara, within the Department of Research Planning and Coordination. The complex process of compiling the first national soil map in digital format will be one of the first tasks for this group, as well as the establishment of a national infrastructure for distributing the information amongst the GDRS managers and scientists. With the likely forthcoming accession of the Turkish Republic to the European Union, alignment of the National Soil Information System with European standards and protocols will prove to be an important facet of the ongoing development.
