Using Google's cloud-based platform for digital soil mapping

A digital soil mapping exercise over a large extent and at a high resolution is a computationally expensive procedure. It may take days or weeks to obtain the final maps and to visually evaluate the prediction models when using a desktop workstation. To increase the speed of time-consuming procedures, the use of supercomputers is a common practice. Google has developed a product specifically designed for mapping purposes (Earth Engine), allowing users to take advantage of its computing power and the mobility of a cloud-based solution. In this work, we explore the feasibility of using this platform for digital soil mapping by presenting two soil mapping examples over the contiguous United States. We also discuss the advantages and limitations of this platform at its current development stage, and potential improvements towards a fully functional cloud-based soil mapping platform. & 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.