LandPKS stands for Land Potential Knowledge System. “Land potential” is defined as the inherent, long-term capacity of the land to sustainably generate ecosystem services. Land potential at any location depends on the type of soil, topography, and climate.
We need to understand land’s potential – including how much water and carbon it can store, how much it can produce, and whether it can support a particular type of habitat – in order to make sustainable and profitable decisions about what to use it for, how to manage it, and what degraded land to prioritize for restoration.
The LandPKS apps, LandPKS Soil ID and LandPKS Classic, enable users to learn about the land and produce site-specific data at any location in the world. After entering ground-truthed data, users can download and share their data with collaborators and stakeholders. LandPKS app are free to download for Android and iOS devices.
Our mission
At Terraso, we build open source tools for a more sustainable world. With LandPKS our goal is to create highly usable, powerful tools for making sustainable land management decisions. We seek to fill the gaps in existing technology for sustainable agriculture, land conservation, and soil sciences. We value deep collaboration with people around the globe, from smallholder farmers to national governments, to ensure we’re building what is needed to improve lives and make a better world for all of us.
Rebuilding a powerful soil science application
The LandPKS suite consists of two apps: LandPKS Classic is a soil sciene app trusted by tens of thousands for more than a decade. LandPKS Soil ID is a redesign and update of LandPKS Classic, incorporating popular features of the original app while enhancing the user experience. Once LandPKS Soil ID has achieved sufficient parity, we will sunset the original app and help users to migrate their accounts and data to the new experience.
Our history
LandPKS resulted from more than a decade of engagement with hundreds of individuals around the world. Development of what began as a simple idea for an “Ecological Knowledge System” in 2007 was initiated in 2013 by USDA-ARS with funding from USAID as the global “Land-Potential Knowledge System.”
This initial focus on Africa led to its use as a monitoring tool for land conservancies, a resource for agricultural development, and a guide for local and regional land planning. The LandPKS team quickly realized that these same tools were needed by ranchers, farmers, community scientists, gardeners, scientists, and other land managers in the United States and around the world. Today, LandPKS apps are used by land managers worldwide.
LandPKS timeline
2007
Concept for an “Ecological Knowledge System” proposed based on the results of the conference, “Ecology in an Era of Globalization.”
2013
A project to develop the Land Potential Knowledge System (LandPKS) is initiated by the USDA-ARS Range Management Research Unit, Jornada Experimental Range with funding from USAID.
2013-2017
LandPKS is used as a tool for rangeland inventory and monitoring at land conservancies, a resource for agricultural development, and as a guide for local land-use planning in Africa. Adoption slowly grows in other parts of the world.
2017
Adoption of LandPKS by ranchers, farmers, community scientists, gardeners, researchers, and land managers begins to grow in the United States. USAID implements LandPKS for simple soil description and identification to improve interpretation of monitoring and evaluation of its Feed the Future investments.
2022
Terraso assumes the stewardship of the LandPKS app suite.
2024 onwards
LandPKS Soil ID releases with a streamlined user experience, support for team collaboration, and custom depths. Features from LandPKS Classic and new experiences are added in regular updates.
We continue development with the support of hundreds of global collaborators, and adoption of the LandPKS apps are used by land managers worldwide. Learn how LandPKS is used in your region and globally in the LandPKS Knowledge Hub.
