A mobile application for smartphones with soil information: improving connectivity in terms of soil security

Soil sciences are booming due to the recognition of their role in achieving sustainable development goals beyond the importance of food and fiber production. The concept of soil security has emerged, which consists of five elements, including connectivity. Information and communication technologies are key to connecting with land use scholars and professionals. This work aimed to develop a smartphone application with information on the soils of Campeche, Mexico. The app was developed for phones using the Android system, which is the most used in Mexico. We used 14 of Campeche's most important soil profiles, showing the profile image, description, and names with the WRB and the Maya soil classification. Java was used as the programming language. The user menu has seven sections. For the "Soils" option, information is displayed and classified according to the type of user; the "maps" option displays the location of the user and the soil map with the technical and Mayan names, among others. The Campeche Soils App provides information on soil profiles, characteristics, geographic distribution, and agrological capacity. Students, teachers, and agronomists have favorably evaluated the application. It has three types of users, each offering specific information.