KSA National Agricultural Land Evaluation · App 2 · Module 3
Data Sources
Where each of the 66 assessed elements can come from, with alternatives where they exist. Thirty-four candidate sources, twenty-four open and ten held by ministries. No data has been acquired; this is an acquisition specification.
Elements66
Sources34
Source links144
Derivable28
Ministry only21
One card per element — open it for the options
Each element names every dataset that could supply it, ranked Primary, Alternative and Fallback, with the processing that turns the dataset into the stored column and the acquisition method the choice implies.
The alternatives are not decoration. Choosing FABDEM over the Copernicus DEM for slope removes vegetation bias but brings a non-commercial licence. Choosing NCM station records over ERA5-Land for temperature raises the acquisition method from satellite_modelled at 0.70 to ministry_record at 0.95, and turns an open download into a formal request. Every alternative is a trade between confidence and acquisition cost, and the trade should be visible before it is made.
28
Derivable now
Open sources, no request needed
8
Proxy only
Fillable, but confidence-capped
21
Ministry only
No admissible external substitute
9
Blocked
Index has no defined construction
StatusDerivableProxy onlyMinistry onlyBlocked — index undefinedRankPrimaryAlternativeFallback
Capability19 land qualities19 elements
LQ-SP-01Available water capacity3 optionsDerivable▾
PrimarySOILGRIDS_250wv0033 − wv1500 by horizon → 0–100 cm weighted meansatellite_modelled
PrimaryCOP_DEM_GLO30 + CHIRPS + SOILGRIDS_250RUSLE computed locally: R from CHIRPS, K from texture and SOC, LS from DEM, C from WorldCoversatellite_modelled
AlternativeGLOSEMPublished JRC RUSLE result — cross-check rather than substitutesatellite_modelled
LQ-T-03Wind erosion2 optionsBlocked — index undefined▾
PrimaryGLOBAL_WIND_ATLAS + SOILGRIDS_250Wind climate + sand fraction + cover → function not defined—
AlternativeERA5_LAND + SOILGRIDS_250RWEQ or WEQ producing t/ha/yr — a defined quantity, unlike an indexsatellite_modelled
LQ-T-04Sand encroachment2 optionsDerivable▾
PrimarySENTINEL2_L2AMulti-year dune-front tracking on bare-soil compositessatellite_modelled
AlternativeLANDSAT_ARCHIVESame method over a 1984-onward baseline — longer record, coarser pixelsatellite_modelled
PrimaryMEWA_BASINBasin water balance determinationministry_record
WP-E-02Allocation status1 optionMinistry only▾
PrimaryMEWA_BASINAbstraction licensing against basin allocationministry_record
Land rights6 legal checks6 elements
EPProtected area1 optionMinistry only▾
PrimaryNCW_PROTECTEDNCW protected-area register. No satellite proxy is admissible — a legal state cannot be inferred from imageryministry_record
EVRangeland, forest and afforestation1 optionMinistry only▾
PrimaryNCVC_RANGENCVC rangeland and forest register. No satellite proxy is admissible — a legal state cannot be inferred from imageryministry_record
ETTenure1 optionMinistry only▾
PrimaryMOJ_WATHEEQWatheeq cadastral record. No satellite proxy is admissible — a legal state cannot be inferred from imageryministry_record
EZZoning designation1 optionMinistry only▾
PrimaryMOMAH_ADMINMOMAH zoning scheme. No satellite proxy is admissible — a legal state cannot be inferred from imageryministry_record
EXConflicting use1 optionMinistry only▾
PrimaryMEWA_BASINPetroleum, mining, military and industrial designations. No satellite proxy is admissible — a legal state cannot be inferred from imageryministry_record
EHHazard designation3 optionsMinistry only▾
PrimaryNCEC_HAZARDEnvironmental constraint and hazard designation. No satellite proxy is admissibleministry_record
AlternativeNCM_CLIMATEMeteorological hazard — flood and storm alerting sits with NCMministry_record
AlternativeSGS_HYDROGeological hazard — subsidence, karst and seismic sits with SGSministry_record
Suitability26 crop factors26 elements
SQ-A-01Available water capacity3 optionsDerivable▾
Primary(reads LQ-SP-01)Same measurement as the capability quality, rated against a crop requirement instead of a land limitationsatellite_modelled
AlternativeSOILGRIDS_250wv0033 − wv1500 by horizon → 0–100 cm weighted meansatellite_modelled
AlternativeCHIRPS + COP_DEM_GLO30Extreme-rainfall return period routed over the DEMsatellite_modelled
SQ-C-03Waterlogging risk3 optionsDerivable▾
Primary(reads LQ-W-04)Same measurement as the capability quality, rated against a crop requirement instead of a land limitationsatellite_modelled
AlternativeJRC_GSWSeasonality band → days of standing water per yearsatellite_modelled
AlternativeSENTINEL1_GRDSAR water detection, unaffected by cloudsatellite_direct
SQ-D-01Terrain workability3 optionsDerivable▾
Primary(reads LQ-T-01)Same measurement as the capability quality, rated against a crop requirement instead of a land limitationsatellite_modelled
AlternativeCOP_DEM_GLO30Horn slope on the 30 m grid → H3 res-10 meansatellite_direct
AlternativeFABDEMBare-earth DEM — removes vegetation and building bias. Non-commercial licencesatellite_direct
SQ-D-02Water erosion hazard3 optionsDerivable▾
Primary(reads LQ-T-02)Same measurement as the capability quality, rated against a crop requirement instead of a land limitationsatellite_modelled
AlternativeCOP_DEM_GLO30 + CHIRPS + SOILGRIDS_250RUSLE computed locally: R from CHIRPS, K from texture and SOC, LS from DEM, C from WorldCoversatellite_modelled
AlternativeGLOSEMPublished JRC RUSLE result — cross-check rather than substitutesatellite_modelled
SQ-D-03Wind erosion hazard3 optionsBlocked — index undefined▾
Primary(reads LQ-T-03)Same measurement as the capability quality, rated against a crop requirement instead of a land limitationsatellite_modelled
AlternativeGLOBAL_WIND_ATLAS + SOILGRIDS_250Wind climate + sand fraction + cover → function not defined—
AlternativeERA5_LAND + SOILGRIDS_250RWEQ or WEQ producing t/ha/yr — a defined quantity, unlike an indexsatellite_modelled
PrimaryALUESCrop requirement table — not a land measurementministry_record
AlternativeFAO_ECOCROPFull profile where one exists (7 of 63 crops)ministry_record
Thirty-four candidate sources
Twenty-four are open and acquirable now. Ten are held by ministries and none has been requested yet. Every card carries its resolution score — confidence component 2, computed from native resolution against the 131.4 m cell width. That score is fixed the moment a source is chosen, before any processing happens, and it is the ceiling on everything derived from it. Every card also links to where the dataset lives, so an acquisition request can be raised straight from it.
Links point to official landing pages rather than direct dataset endpoints. The custodian of hazard designation should be confirmed before a request is addressed, since environmental, meteorological and geological hazard sit with different centres.
Soil and lithology4 sources
external
SoilGrids 2.0
SOILGRIDS_250
ISRIC — World Soil Information
Res score
0.68
Native resolution
250 m
Licence
CC-BY 4.0
Update cycle
Static (2020 release)
Coverage
Global
Access route
API · bulk
Acquisition status
Not started
Known limitation
Model prediction with published uncertainty layers. Carries no salinity, sodicity, carbonate or gypsum layer — those must come from elsewhere.
300 km resolution is basin-scale at best — one value covers a substantial part of a province. Usable as a regional trend indicator, never as a cell value.
Hazard designation and environmental constraint mapping
NCEC_HAZARD
NCEC
Res scoren/a
Native resolution
Vector
Licence
Not yet agreed
Update cycle
On request
Coverage
National
Access route
Formal request
Acquisition status
Not started
Known limitation
Sole source for EH. Environmental, meteorological and geological hazard sit with different centres — confirm which holds hazard designation before addressing a request.
Ten datasets, none requested yet. This is procurement, not analysis — the letters can go out this week and nothing else has to happen first.
Make a decision
9
elements wait on a definition
No dataset resolves these. The scale itself has never been specified, so acquiring more data changes nothing until someone writes the function.
Ministry dependency — 21 elements across 10 datasets
Critical13 el
SWA
SWA_WELLS
13 of the 15 water parameters.
The water module cannot be populated at all without it. No external dataset carries well level, abstraction or water chemistry at any resolution.
Critical1 el
MOMAH
MOMAH_ADMIN
EZ zoning, plus governorate boundaries.
Blocks all zone generation, and therefore the entire area ledger — the headline output of the study.
High1 el
Ministry of Justice
MOJ_WATHEEQ
ET tenure.
Likely the most access-restricted dataset in the study. An MoU is expected rather than a data request.
High1 el
NCW
NCW_PROTECTED
EP protected areas.
A legal determination. No satellite proxy is admissible however good the imagery.
High1 el
NCVC
NCVC_RANGE
EV rangeland, forest and afforestation.
Separate register from NCW — a hectare clear in one can be barred in the other.
High1 el
NCEC
NCEC_HAZARD
EH hazard designation.
Hazard designation is a declared state, not an observed one. Confirm the custodian before sending.
Critical3 el
MEWA
MEWA_BASIN
WP-E-01, WP-E-02 and EX.
Also holds the eleven policy thresholds the Class ranges tab cannot fill — acceptable decline rates, viable pumping lift, allocation limits.
Medium1 el
SGS
SGS_HYDRO
Aquifer type and extent.
WHYMAP is the only alternative and is a 1:25 M continental generalisation.
Medium0 el
GEOSA
GEOSA_BASE
National geodetic and boundary reference.
Underpins every other layer’s spatial registration.
Optional0 el
NCM
NCM_CLIMATE
Station climate records.
Not blocking. ERA5-Land covers every climate element. Would raise five of them from 0.70 to 0.95 on acquisition method.
Blocked by definition, not by data — 9 elements
All nine are index-valued columns, and every input they need is already available. SoilGrids, the Copernicus DEM and the Global Wind Atlas can all be read today. What does not exist, in any delivered module, is the function that turns those inputs into a number on a 0–100 scale.
Until that function is written an index value cannot be produced, cannot be banded, and cannot be assigned a confidence — because confidence component 1 asks how a value was acquired, and there is no acquisition path to name.
undefined scale
Soil workability
LQ-SP-02
Missing
clay, sand, bdod, cfvo → function not defined
undefined scale
Surface sealing and crusting
LQ-SP-04
Missing
clay, silt, soc → function not defined
undefined scale
Nutrient availability
LQ-SC-03
Missing
nitrogen, cec, soc, phh2o → function not defined
undefined scale
Drainage condition
LQ-W-01
Missing
Drainage class attribute read directly — a class, not an index
undefined scale
Wind erosion
LQ-T-03
Missing
Wind climate + sand fraction + cover → function not defined
mirrors capability
Soil workability
SQ-A-02
Missing
Inherits the gap from its capability reference — resolving that resolves this.
mirrors capability
Surface sealing and crusting
SQ-A-04
Missing
Inherits the gap from its capability reference — resolving that resolves this.
mirrors capability
Drainage condition
SQ-C-01
Missing
Inherits the gap from its capability reference — resolving that resolves this.
mirrors capability
Wind erosion hazard
SQ-D-03
Missing
Inherits the gap from its capability reference — resolving that resolves this.
Two of the nine need no calibration at all
Resolvable now
Drainage condition
LQ-W-01 · SQ-C-01
HWSD v2 carries a drainage class attribute that can be read directly. Drainage is conventionally expressed as a class — FAO uses seven ordered ones — not as a score. Expressing it as a 0–100 continuum discards a standard vocabulary and invents a scale in its place. Adopting the class removes both elements from this list with no calibration work.
Resolvable now
Wind erosion
LQ-T-03 · SQ-D-03
RWEQ and WEQ are established quantitative treatments producing t/ha/yr — the same unit already used for water erosion in LQ-T-02. Using an index for one and a mass flux for the other is an inconsistency inside a single element group. Adopting the mass flux removes both elements and makes the group internally consistent.
Adopting both would take the blocked count from 9 to 5, leaving five elements — soil workability, surface sealing and nutrient availability, plus their two suitability mirrors — genuinely requiring a defined index. Both changes are defensible on methodological grounds rather than convenience, which is why they are worth raising with the reviewer rather than deciding internally.