Soil Data Lookup (NRCS) Plugin provides information on the soil around a pole based on lat/long coordinates, as specified by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) provider. 

Knowing the soil data can help users decide which soil class to choose from (0-8) which may affect the poles overturn moment value. The nine soil classes fall into three categories: good 0-2, moderate 3-5, and poor 6-8.

To activate the Soil Data Lookup (NRCS) plugin, complete the following steps:
1.    From the Options menu, select the Manage Plugins option.
2.    Check the box to enable the Soil Data Lookup (NRCS) plugin, click the Apply button.
3.    Select Yes to restart the application and apply your changes.
4.    From the Tools menu, select the Soil Data Lookup (NRCS) plugin.
5.    Select the Soil Summary or the Soil Details option.

Soil Summary

Selecting Soil Summary opens the Soil Texture Summary window which gives a general description of the soil in which the pole is located.

From the Soil Texture Summary results, the user must reference the Soil Class choices offered in the Data Entry for the Pole and decide which soil class to select. Unset is the default soil class. When selecting a soil class, the Overturn Moment value is displayed on the first page of the Analysis Report.

6.    Open the drop-down menu to select a Soil Class (0-8) option.

Note: To locate the Soil Class attribute in the Data Entry for the Wood Pole, select the Overturn filter. 

Note: The user selects the soil class (0-8) which most closely matches the Soil Texture Summary results. The exact wording is not to be expected.

Users should be aware that selecting a Soil Class can sometimes result in the pole overturning or being close to overturning, which can be seen in the Capacity display. 

An Unset soil class means that O-Calc Pro considers the pole as rigidly constrained at groundline. Note: Current pole loading regulations do not require that a soil classification be selected at this time.

The Analysis Report displays the Overturn value (ft-lb) on the first page of the report when a soil class is selected. Any check overturn or overturned warning banned is also display here.

Soil Detail 

Selecting Soil Detail opens the Soil Detail Report which offers columns of detailed information about the selected soils condition. This report is typically not as useful for our purposes as the Soil Summary results.

Help General – NRCS: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/conservation-basics/natural-resource-concerns/soil

Help Data Access – Soil Data Access Web Service Help: https://sdmdataaccess.nrcs.usda.gov/WebServiceHelp.aspx