Soil property data

BGS soil property data has been made available to view as a WMS service. The data is also available via the UK Soil Observatory.

Data layers include top soil and profile soil sample data, soil texture, soil depth and soil parent material (the upper 2–3 m of the geology beneath our feet, incorporating the weathered rocks and deposits from and within which soil has formed).

Service address

Enter this address into your WMS client: https://map.bgs.ac.uk/arcgis/services/UKSO/UKSO_BGS/MapServer/WMSServer

Example WMS Requests (versions 1.3.0 and 1.1.1 supported)

The GetCapabilities response has a full list of layers in this service.

Can’t use the WMS?

Try the UK Soil Observatory viewer if you are unable to use a WMS.

Terms of use

This data is delivered under the terms of the Open Government Licence, subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying the reproduced BGS materials: ‘Contains British Geological Survey materials © UKRI [year]. Contact us if you create something new and innovative that could benefit others.

The BGS provides no warranty as to the quality, accuracy or completeness of this free map data or the medium on which it is supplied. This includes any warranty as to the continued provision of material or that the material taken from this site is compatible with your computer system and/or any other data with which the material is to be used.

Please be aware that BGS may make changes to this service. This will include, but is not limited to, the level of attribution seen for each type of geology, and changes to zoom thresholds.