Pesquisa de Solos)

Today’s movement for sustainable agriculture is gathering support in a broad interdisciplinary context. We observe an increasing demand for GIS as a tool for understanding and integration of models for policy making. Despite the increasing concern for this topic, sustainability remains a contradictory concept for many people. The concept concerns attributes, actions, and effects that have to be sustained, but: at what levels, over what area and time period, by which means, and for which people? EMBRAPA – CNPS recognizes the complexity of customizing generic tools for sustainable agriculture applications. Therefore, this paper presents a project that places proposals within specific research actions of geo-information system development. The project objective is to develop and supply methods and products of geo-information related to soil data organization and addressed interrelationships among entities from different domains. The expected result is a framework of basic procedures that provides a solid structure for agri-ecological research. Main actions include database design for related data sets, and research of new models for spatial representation of terrain objects. At present, two products are in their final phase of development: SIGSOLOS and Geostat. In the near future, purposed actions will result in expansion modules (“SPRING ” environment). They will offer: integration of natural resources data sets; a library of cartographic standards of environmental mapping; a knowledge based engine for soil suitability; a shell based on geo-information theory for development of domain and thematic interrelation models; and remote sensed image segmentation for soil patterns