VISUALISING AUSTRALASIA'S SOILS

Visualising Australasia’s Soils Background Technical Build Landing Platform

Landing Platform

The VAS landing platform forms the presentation layer of the soil data federation, connecting contributors, data custodians, and public users to datasets, services, and educational resources through an accessible web interface. It integrates static content, API-driven datasets, and dynamic charts to support both discovery and reporting.

System Architecture

  1. Framework: The front-end runs on the Statamic CMS (Laravel-based), enabling modular content blocks and API integration.

  2. Hosting & Access: Deployed within CeRDI’s secure cloud environment, connected to the TimescaleDB-based Observation System via RESTful APIs (postgREST), ensuring real-time data delivery to the frontend..

  3. Design Framework: The landing system is structured around a modular card-based layout, allowing flexible updates to each content block without altering the underlying framework.

    • Consistency: Unified typography, iconography, and responsive colour palette aligning with VAS brand identity (earth tones and blue-green gradients).

    • Accessibility: Readable font contrast, scalable layout, and mobile compatibility to ensure usability across devices.

    • Discoverability: Prominent placement of links to the VAS Soil Data Portal and Resource Library, encouraging quick access to key datasets and guides.

  4. UX & Navigation Logic:

    • The landing page provides entry points to the broader VAS ecosystem, particularly the Data Portal, Soil Data Catalogue, and Monitoring Lab.

    • Content panels summarise VAS purpose, partner organisations, and calls to explore live data tools.

    • Embedded search and filtering widgets within linked modules enhance dataset exploration.

    • A visual tile system ensures alignment between technical content (data access) and communication content (project impact).

VAS Soil Data Catalogue

The VAS Soil Data Catalogue delivers an updated, user-friendly interface for exploring soil datasets. It integrates dataset metadata including ownership, licence, and extent with analytical summaries by sample depth, soil property, and procedure. Interactive histograms and trend charts visualise results across depths and time, providing a clear overview of data distribution and relationships.