SoilWeb vs Soil Explorer
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
SoilWeb
Access detailed soil survey information based on your current location. View soil profile sketches, estimated proportions, and geomorphic positions. Get aggregate data like water holding capacity and links to official soil descriptions.
- Soil profile sketches and geomorphic position
- Map unit aggregate data (e.g., water holding capacity)
- Soil survey area scale and publication date
- Detailed component soil properties and ratings
- Links to Official Series Descriptions (OSDs)
- Location accuracy and auto-refresh settings
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The SoilWeb for iOS application accesses soil survey information (the SSURGO dataset, published by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service) at your current location. This app was designed to be a lightweight version of the SoilWeb GMap web application. SoilWeb GMap features an interactive map for viewing and querying individual map units, while this app does not. However, SoilWeb for iOS conveniently provides a link to the SoilWeb GMap web app. SoilWeb GMap is available at https://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/gmap/ More information about SSURGO is available at https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/geo/?cid=nrcs142p2_053627 Features of SoilWeb for iOS include: - Soil profile sketches, estimated proportions, and geomorphic position of soil components associated with the SSURGO "map unit" identified at your current location. - Map unit aggregate data such as estimated water holding capacity. - Soil survey area scale and publication date. - Component details: soil taxonomy, soil property depth profiles, land classification ratings, hydraulic and erosion ratings, forest productivity, soil suitability ratings. - Links to Official Series Descriptions (OSDs) generated automatically. - Component links to related web apps: Series Extent Explorer (SEE) and Soil Data Explorer (SDE). - Link to the SoilWeb GMap web application at your current location. - Location accuracy setting allows you to select between standard accuracy (less accurate, uses less battery power) and high accuracy (more accurate, but may use more battery power). - Location auto-refresh feature allows you to continually look up soil data at a specified time interval.
Soil Explorer
Discover detailed soil property and landscape maps for U.S. states and global soil distributions. Understand how map features relate to real-world observations. This educational tool uses data from USDA and USGS to illustrate complex soil-landscape relationships.
- Detailed soil property maps
- Landscape visualizations
- Global soil distribution maps
- Field observation correlation
- USDA NRCS data integration
- USGS data integration
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Explore detailed maps of soil properties and landscapes for various U.S. states, as well as small-scale maps of soil distributions for the world. Examine the details for a specific area, but also see the overview for a large area. Learn how features shown on the maps correspond to what you observe in the field. Soil Explorer utilizes detailed soil survey data from the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and data and maps from the U. S. Geological Survey and other sources to produce informative, highly engaging maps. These maps are designed to show the complex interrelationships between soil properties and the landscapes in which soils occur.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: SoilWeb at 47% against Soil Explorer's 0%. SoilWeb also leads on iOS requirement (9.0 vs 14.7). Soil Explorer's advantage is rating (4.1 vs 3.5). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Soil Explorer holds the better App Store score, 4.1 against 3.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 14 and 9 respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 47% of SoilWeb's written reviews are positive against 0% of Soil Explorer's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
SoilWeb ships an update every 8 months, Soil Explorer every 11 months. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and September 27, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | SoilWeb | Soil Explorer |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (14 ratings) | 4.1 (9 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 47.0% of reviews — better | 0.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 14 — better | 9 |
| Update frequency | Every 8 months — better | Every 11 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 9.0 — better | 14.7 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 26 MB | 172 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | University of California, Davis | Purdue University |
Customer experience
SoilWeb
Soil Explorer
Bugs and requests
SoilWeb
Reported bugs
9 issues- App crashes on opening
- App doesn't open
- App not compatible with iOS 11/14
- Map gives soil data for wrong area
- Soil series name font color is white, hard to read
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- OSD links do not always work
- Broken links
- App not functional for updated Apple platforms
- Response Error: 502 Bad Gateway
Requested features
8 requests- Allow "view map" feature like desktop version
- Change soil series font color
- Add map view for nearby soil types
- Allow manual input of locations
- Data export options
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- iPad version
- Log data points and notes on iPad
- Print reports from iPad app
Soil Explorer
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
SoilWeb
No in-app purchases
Soil Explorer
No in-app purchases









