Correspondence between the legend units of the soil map of Poland (1:300,000), soil-agricultural map, forest soil-habitat map and soil types of Polish Soil Classification (2019) based on analysis of soil profiles

An analysis of 2360 soil profiles, localized mostly in south-west, west and central-north Poland, which were newly classified following the criteria of the recent Polish soil classification, 6th edition (SGP6), has allowed an assessment of the usefulness of the soil map of Poland (1:300,000), soil-agricultural maps (1:5,000-1:25,000) and soil-habitat (forest) maps (1:10,000) for the preparation of new soil map of Poland on medium and small scales. The soil map of Poland (1:300,000), published in 1961, provides the complete coverage of Poland's territory with map contours, but does not allow an unequivocal correlation with SPG6's soil types for large part of contours of rusty soils, podzols, alluvial soils and organic soils, which totally cover up to 40% of map area. Reinterpretation (by correlation with soil types by SGP6) of contours of the soil-agricultural maps and, in particular, soil-habitat (forests) maps, allowed reliable projection on a much higher level. Relatively high uncertainty was connected with correlation of the contours of alluvial and organic soils (soil-agricultural map), and stagno-gleyed and mineral-organic soils (soil-habitat map). Based on the quantitative analysis, the most effective in a preparation of new, reinterpreted soil map of Poland, on medium to small scales, seems the combination of soil-agricultural map and soil-habitat map, after their harmonization based on SGP6 criteria and after solving technical problems related to partial incompatibility of contours along the forest-farmland border.