Measuring soil aggregate stability with mobile phones, lessons, challenges, and future work

A method for assessing soil aggregate stability which uses image-recognition was created and presented in the form of a mobile phone app. The app was adopted, used, criticized, adjusted and updated by the scientific and non-scientific community worldwide. Results from Australia showed how the adoption of a digital tool allowed the inclusion of a once tedious laboratory method into more data-rich frameworks such as digital soil mapping. It was also shown that the accuracy and replicability of the software was tested and showed to be a possible candidate for an alternative standard method when used in a country-wide study in France. Different studies in the United States highlighted the limitations and the need of a more user-friendly interface, resulting in the creation of an improved version of the original app by the Soil Health Institute (SHI) named SLAKES: SOIL HEALTH allowing the adoption of a wider user community. The creation, use and update of this digital tool was an example of the the role of the scientific community when using, criticizing and changing an existing method and the role of public and/or private institutions in the implementation of the user-interface of the technology to be used by the wider community.