The increased demand for development, maintenance and remodelling works on sports turf in recent years has led to an increased interest in the use of non-invasive, near surface geophysical surveys. The application of such technology has been recordedfor at least 20 years ago. Soil Electrical Conductivity (EC) mapping is the most common geophysical survey used with agriculture and horticulture. The use of soil EC mapping technology has been extensively researched in agriculture although little published independent information exists for its application to sports turf. Trials in Ireland, the UK and the USA indicate soil EC scanning information may be useful for site inventory data collection for drainage design, although many anomalies can exist with multiple factors affecting results. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) stores, processes and present the data collected. GIS is the main user interface for the processing operation. The information, which is fed into a software programme, can be filtered and processed to produce coloured maps using various statistical methods. It has been suggested that further research is needed to determine protocols for collection, interpretation and presentation of data, as in almost all cases impressive colourful maps can be produced but what they are actually expressing may not be clear and conclusive.
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