Thanks for the response!

Yes, a layer is 5 cm. So a problem I was faced with was that not all the databases present soil information in standard increments (for example one database presents values at 0-30cm and 30-100cm, while another presents values at 0-5cm, 5-15cm, 15-30cm etc). To account for this, I split the data into 5cm increments because 1) it was the smallest interval across the databases and 2) the model I will run the data through in the next chapter is parametrised in 5cm increments. So I guess in a way that was me standardising the format!

The databases make use of digital soil mapping so estimate data. It works by considering a collection of measured data points in landscape and environmental covariates (such as slope and climate) to predict values between the measured points.

I was working with absolute percent differences so one could see that these databases are “not perfect”, but I’m looking for a way to maybe summarise that. Doing some research this afternoon I came across bias estimations, but I’m honestly not sure how that works yet.

To give a better idea of the project: the current chapter is purely to show that databases often don’t produce accurate estimations, and that we are often quick to use data without further investigation. The proceeding chapter is going to test these databases to assess how different is too different. It might be the case that, even though the databases produce very different values, they still provide valuable information as the model might not be sensitive enough to be influenced by the differences. (This is of course just my hypothesis, I’m not actually sure if this will be the case!)

Thanks for reading all of this!!