soilDB 2.9.1

soilDB 2.9.1 (2026-04-01)

• ROSETTA() updates thanks to Todd Skaggs (USDA-ARS):
  • Now using version 2 of the ROSETTA API (https://www.handbook60.org/rosetta)
  • New argument est.type for selecting ensemble summary method and resulting units of measure
  • $Ko$ and $L$ parameters now included in model output
• fetchGDB() now supports passing path to SSURGO GeoPackage file via dsn argument
• Breaking change: sample SoilProfileCollection datasets (loafercreek, gopheridge, mineralKing) updated to 2.9.x fetchNASIS() schema
  • Deprecated columns have been removed, following the corresponding changes in 2.9.0

soilDB 2.9.0 (2026-01-22)

Breaking Changes

• Deprecated stringsAsFactors argument has been removed from many query functions, use NASISChoiceList() and/or NASISDomainsAsFactor() instead for manual or automatic setting of domain values as factors, respectively
• Deprecated NASIS column aliases have been removed, see https://ncss-tech.github.io/AQP/soilDB/bulletins/2025.01-1-soilDB-NASIS-column-aliases.html for details
• R version >= 4.1.0 is now required

Documentation

• New vignette with details on SoilWeb curated data sources, and related functions in soilDB (#435)
• New vignette on Soil Data Access, SDA_query() and high-level wrapper functions for SDA queries in soilDB

Improvements

• fetchOSD(..., extended = TRUE) gains geomorphon proportions via SoilWeb (#435)
• get_SDA_property(method="weighted average") resolved efficiency issues and streamlined SQL Common Table Expressions for processing very large sets of map unit keys (#432)
• OSDquery() gains remarks argument for searching the REMARKS section of OSDs

soilDB 2.8.14 (2025-12-04)

• Added family mineralogy class grids
• Added argument type for selecting the type of query; replaces deprecated formativeElement
• SDA_query() now includes additional metadata (comment header in SQL) to inform usage metrics of various access points to SDA
• fetchSDA() and related lower-level child functions now include nasiscoiid and nasischiid for relating to internal database record IDs

What's Changed

• fix(test): update SDA expectations for FY26 SSURGO by @brownag in #417
• adding family mineralogy class extent grids to taxaExtent() by @dylanbeaudette in #416
• Broken proj by @dylanbeaudette in #418
• fix: handle possible failures in initializing spatial objects with terra::rast() by @brownag in #419
• ci: test on ubuntu 22.04, oldrel-1 by @brownag in #421
• feat(fetchSDA): add nasiscoiid and nasischiid by @brownag in #423
• ci: improvements by @brownag in #422
• feat: improve Soil Data Access metrics for soilDB usage by @brownag in #420
• doc: updates by @brownag in #425
• ci: add dependabot.yml by @brownag in #428
• chore(deps): bump actions/checkout from 5 to 6 by @dependabot[bot] in #429
• chore(deps): bump JamesIves/github-pages-deploy-action from 4.4.1 to 4.7.6 by @dependabot[bot] in #430
• add remarks argument to OSDquery by @dylanbeaudette in #434
• refactor: replace httr and xml2 dependencies from SDA_query with base R/curl by @brownag in #433
• chore(deps): bump JamesIves/github-pages-deploy-action from 4.7.6 to 4.8.0 by @dependabot[bot] in #437
• adding geomorphon proportions by soil series to fetchOSD() by @dylanbeaudette in #435
• refactor: get_SDA_property(method="weighted average") by @brownag in #432
• soilDB 2.9.0 by @brownag in #426
• fixes from STAT1010 by @brownag in #438
• fix(get_site_data_from_NASIS_db): deduplicate results by @brownag in #442
• fix: region for DS HUB AWS S3 bucket by @brownag in #445
• ROSETTA API updates by @dylanbeaudette in #448
• ci(R-CMD-check): remove old README build by @brownag in #449
• Update get_component_from_GDB.R by @smroecker in #451
• feat!: remove deprecated columns from sample SPC datasets by @brownag in #452
• Update utils.R by @smroecker in #453
• docs: NEWS and README by @brownag in #454
• docs: update README.md by @brownag in #455
• SDA / web test cleanup by @brownag in #456

New Contributors

• @dependabot[bot] made their first contribution in #429

Full Changelog: 2.8.13...2.9.1