LandPKS (Land Potential Knowledge System): Mobile App for Extension, Land-Use and Project Planning, M&E and On-Farm Research

Through an understanding of climate, soils, and topography, land potential can be seen as the potential of the land to be degradation resistant (the ability of the land to resist disturbances) and resilient (the ability of the land to rebound after disturbances). Application of the land potential concept can support sustainable agricultural production, biodiversity conservation, and other ecosystem services.

To help address such land potential issues, LandPKS comprises a free modular mobile phone app connected to cloud-based storage, global databases, and models, downloadable from Google Play or the iTunes App Store; a system for storing and accessing user data; and a system for sharing data, information and knowledge.

LandPKS is being developed to help users determine the sustainable potential of their land, including its restoration potential, based on its unique soil, topography and climate. The land potential assessments will be updated based on new evidence regarding the success or failure of new management and restoration systems on different soils. The knowledge engine, together with mobile phone applications and cloud computing technologies, will facilitate more rapid and complete integration of local and scientific knowledge into land management. The current version (3.0, 2018) supports the collection and automated storage and sharing of the basic information needed to determine land potential (LandInfo module). It also includes a LandCover module for vegetation inventory and monitoring.

Modules available as of June 2019 are :

LandInfo – for rapid soil (texture, color) characterization, soil identification, and accessing soil and ecological site information.

Predicts soil infiltration & plant available water-holding capacity (AWC) at variable soil organic matter (SOM)
Determines Land Capability Class (LCC) for sustainable land use planning and management
Determines Soil Color using the phone's camera and a standardized reference card
SoilID (early 2019) – matches user inputs to global soil databases to identify the soil

LandCover – for rapid vegetation monitoring (vegetation composition, plant height, and canopy/basal gaps).

NRCS/BLM-compatible methods
Used for rangeland monitoring, natural resource conservation, and crop residue monitoring
Determines vegetation composition, plant height, and canopy/basal gaps

LandManagement (early 2019) – on-farm record-keeping (inputs, management, yields)

Provides data summaries
Allows for record keeping about crops, fertilizer, lime, irrigation, rainfall, erosion control, tillage, etc.
Other Modules coming soon: SoilHealth and Biomass/Utilization.

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Field	Value
Tags	crowdsourcing LandPKS Land Potential Knowledge System LandCover LandInfo LandManagement
Modified	2023-03-30
Release Date	2019-06-21
Identifier	55743321-734e-4338-84a7-924a8e1f967d
Publisher	LandPotential Project
Spatial / Geographical Coverage Location	Global
License	U.S. Public Domain
Contact Name	Herrick, Jeffrey E.
Contact Email	contact@landpotential.org
Public Access Level	Public

Extended Metadata:

Field	Value
Authors	Herrick, Jeffrey E. (Scopus Author ID) Quandt, Amy (ORCID) Kenny, Ciaran (ORCID) Contreras, Maximilian Neff, Jason (ORCID) Jang, Won Seok (Scopus Author ID) Maynard, Jonathan (Scopus Author ID) Peacock, George (Scopus Author ID) Salley, Shawn (ORCID) Daniel, Elifadhili Buni, Adane Ndungu, Lilian (ORCID) Herrera, Jolene M. Nguyen, Thanh Terrones, Luis Karl, Jason (ORCID) Kimiti, David (ORCID) Nauman, Travis (ORCID) Uruma, Kevin (Scopus Author ID) Schrader, Scott (Scopus Author ID) Courtright, Ericha (ORCID) Van Zee, Justin (Scopus Author ID)
Peer Reviewed	No
Intended Use	LandPKS is being developed to help users determine the sustainable potential of their land, including its restoration potential, based on its unique soil, topography and climate.
Funding Sources	U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Jornada Experimental Range New Mexico State University University of Colorado Boulder SILC - Sustainability Innovation Lab at Colorado United States Agency for International Development World Bank Group Natural Resources Conservation Service U.S. Bureau of Land Management
Related Articles	Salley, S. W., Herrick, J. E., Holmes, C. V., Karl, J. W., Levi, M. R., McCord, S. E., van der Waal, C., & Van Zee, J. W. (2018). A Comparison of Soil Texture-by-Feel Estimates: Implications for the Citizen Soil Scientist. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 82(6), 1526-1537. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2018.04.0137 Herrick, J. E., Cox, D. W., Lundgren, B., & Nindi, S. (2018). Global citizen science for people. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 16(9), 491-491. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1969 Fan, Z., Wills, S. A., Herrick, J. E., Nauman, T. W., Brungard, C. W., Beaudette, D. E., Levi, M. R., & O’Geen, A. T. (2018). Approaches for Improving Field Soil Identification. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 82(4), 871-877. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2017.09.0337 Fan, Z., Wills, S. A., Herrick, J. E., Nauman, T. W., Brungard, C. W., Beaudette, D. E., Levi, M. R., & O’Geen, A. T. (2018). Approaches for Improving Field Soil Identification. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 82(4), 871-877. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2017.09.0337 Fan, Z., Herrick, J. E., Saltzman, R., Matteis, C., Yudina, A., Nocella, N., Crawford, E., Parker, R., & Van Zee, J. (2017). Measurement of Soil Color: A Comparison Between Smartphone Camera and the Munsell Color Charts. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 81(5), 1139-1146. https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2017.01.0009 Herrick, J. E., Karl, J. W., McCord, S. E., Buenemann, M., Riginos, C., Courtright, E., Van Zee, J., Ganguli, A. C., Angerer, J., Brown, J. R., Kimiti, D. W., Saltzman, R., Beh, A., & Bestelmeyer, B. (2017). Two New Mobile Apps for Rangeland Inventory and Monitoring by Landowners and Land Managers. Rangelands, 39(2), 46-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rala.2016.12.003 AgID: 10113/5625867 Herrick, J. E., Beh, A., Barrios, E., Bouvier, I., Coetzee, M., Dent, D., Elias, E., Hengl, T., Karl, J. W., Liniger, H., Matuszak, J., Neff, J. C., Ndungu, L. W., Obersteiner, M., Shepherd, K. D., Urama, K. C., Bosch, R., & Webb, N. P. (2016). The land‐potential knowledge system (landpks): mobile apps and collaboration for optimizing climate change investments. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/ehs2.1209 AgID: 10113/62333 Herrick, J. E., & Beh, A. (2014). A Risk-Based Strategy for Climate Change Adaptation in Dryland Systems Based on an Understanding of Potential Production, Soil Resistance and Resilience, and Social Stability. In Sustainable Intensification to Advance Food Security and Enhance Climate Resilience in Africa (pp. 407-424). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09360-4_22 AgID: 10113/62333 Herrick, J. E., Urama, K. C., Karl, J. W., Boos, J., Johnson, M.-V. V., Shepherd, K. D., Hempel, J., Bestelmeyer, B. T., Davies, J., Guerra, J. L., Kosnik, C., Kimiti, D. W., Ekai, A. L., Muller, K., Norfleet, L., Ozor, N., Reinsch, T., Sarukhan, J., & West, L. T. (2013). The global Land-Potential Knowledge System (LandPKS): Supporting evidence-based, site-specific land use and management through cloud computing, mobile applications, and crowdsourcing. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 68(1), 5A-12A. https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.68.1.5a AgID: 10113/57164 Herrick, J. E., Urama, K. C., Karl, J. W., Boos, J., Johnson, M.-V. V., Shepherd, K. D., Hempel, J., Bestelmeyer, B. T., Davies, J., Guerra, J. L., Kosnik, C., Kimiti, D. W., Ekai, A. L., Muller, K., Norfleet, L., Ozor, N., Reinsch, T., Sarukhan, J., & West, L. T. (2013). The global Land-Potential Knowledge System (LandPKS): Supporting evidence-based, site-specific land use and management through cloud computing, mobile applications, and crowdsourcing. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, 68(1), 5A-12A. https://doi.org/10.2489/jswc.68.1.5a AgID: 10113/57164
Product Type	Dataset
Related Content	LandPotential.org web site Presentations and Literature Land Potential Knowledge System (LandPKS) - FAO.org Overview of the Land-Potential Knowledge System (LandPKS) - YouTube Want To Know What’s In Your Soil? There’s An App For That! (ARS Tellus)

Field	Value
ISO Topic(s)	environment farming geoscientificInformation imageryBaseMapsEarthCover planningCadastre
National Agricultural Library Thesaurus Term	databases models soil water holding capacity soil organic matter land classification sustainable land management land use planning soil color cameras vegetation monitoring botanical composition plant height canopy rangelands natural resources conservation crop residues crops fertilizers irrigation rain erosion control tillage soil texture soil classification infiltration (hydrology) soil hydraulic properties computer software application programming interface mobile telephones computer techniques data collection cloud computing photographs photography digital images vegetation cover soil ecology soil erosion canopy gaps land management farm management farm records crop management citizen participation
Ag Data Commons Keywords	Agroecosystems & Environment Soil Physical properties Agroecosystems & Environment Soil Organisms Agroecosystems & Environment Soil Organic matter Agroecosystems & Environment Soil Classification Agroecosystems & Environment Soil Nutrients Agroecosystems & Environment Soil Biogeochemistry Agroecosystems & Environment Soil Agroecosystems & Environment Online database
Program	Jornada Experimental Range Long-Term Agroecosystem Research - LTAR

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