European Soil Data Centre 2.0: Soil data and knowledge in support of the EU policies

Abstract The European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), hosted by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), is the focal point for soil data, support to policy making and awareness raising for the European Union (EU). Established in 2006 to provide harmonised soil‐related information for the EU Member States, and ESDAC currently hosts 88 datasets, 6000 maps, six atlases, 500 scientific publications, and a copious amount of soil‐related material. Through its data repository publishing activity, ESDAC has licensed over 50,000 datasets during the past 15 years; 8500 of them in 2021 alone. It has published 140 monthly newsletters and is followed by more than 12,000 subscribed users, which receive regular updates. This article addresses the use, usability, and usefulness of ESDAC. About 75% of the ESDAC users come from academia and the research community while the remaining 25% includes public administration (at EU, national, regional, and local level) and the private sector. In addition, we provide some insights of the datasets evaluation and how they have been developed. The general ESDAC vision is to provide evidence underlying EU soil‐relevant policies and to facilitate the access to relevant data for research. ESDAC is an integral part of the recently established European Union Soil Observatory (EUSO), with a target to have an even stronger role in supporting EU and regional policies. Highlights ESDAC is a central place from where to find European wide relevant soil data. ESDAC is an integral part of the EU Soil Observatory in creating data and knowledge for policy support. The ESDAC website shows a high volume of traffic; 10,000 of user licenses are granted per year. ESDAC key success: open access data policy, documentation, operational helpdesk and regular updates.