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LimeSoDa: A dataset collection for benchmarking of machine learning regressors in digital soil mapping

Abstract

Digital soil mapping (DSM) relies on a broad pool of statistical methods, yet determining the optimal method for a given context remains challenging and contentious. Benchmarking studies on multiple datasets are needed to reveal strengths and limitations of commonly used methods. Existing DSM studies usually rely on a single dataset with restricted access, leading to incomplete and potentially misleading conclusions. To address these issues, we introduce an open-access dataset collection called Precision Liming Soil Datasets (LimeSoDa). LimeSoDa consists of 31 field- and farm-scale datasets from various countries. Each dataset has three target soil properties: (1) soil organic matter or soil organic carbon, (2) clay content and (3) pH, alongside a set of features. Features are dataset-specific and were obtained by optical spectroscopy, proximal- and remote soil sensing. All datasets were aligned to a tabular format and are ready-to-use for modeling. We demonstrated the use of LimeSoDa for benchmarking by comparing the predictive performance of four learning algorithms across all datasets. This comparison included multiple linear regression (MLR), support vector regression (SVR), categorical boosting (CatBoost) and random forest (RF). The results showed that although no single algorithm was universally superior, certain algorithms performed better in specific contexts. MLR and SVR performed better on high-dimensional spectral datasets, likely due to better compatibility with principal components. In contrast, CatBoost and RF exhibited considerably better performances when applied to datasets with a moderate number (<20) of features. These benchmarking results illustrate that the performance of statistical methods can be highly context-dependent. LimeSoDa therefore provides an important resource for improving the development and evaluation of statistical methods in DSM.

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LimeSoDa: A dataset collection for benchmarking of machine learning regressors in digital soil mapping

Author: Schmidinger, Jonas,Vogel, Sebastian,Barkov, Viacheslav,Pham, Anh-Duy,Gebbers, Robin,Tavakoli, Hamed,Correa, Jose,Tavares, Tiago R.,Filippi, Patrick,Jones, Edward J.,Lukas, Vojtech,Boenecke, Eric,Ruehlmann, Joerg,Schroeter, Ingmar,Kramer, Eckart,Paetzold,
Year: 2025
DOI: 10.48693/873
Source: https://osnadocs.ub.uni-osnabrueck.de/bitstream/ds-2026021914515/1/Schmidinger_etal_Geoderma_459_117337_2025.pdf
LimeSoDa: A da ase collec ion o benchma king o machine lea ning
eg esso s in digi al soil mapping
Jonas Schmidinge
a,b,*
, Sebas ian Vogel
b
, Viachesla Ba ko
a,b
, Anh-Duy Pham
a,b
,
Robin Gebbe s
b
, Hamed Ta akoli
b
, Jose Co ea
b
, Tiago R. Ta a es
c
, Pa ick Filippi
d
,
Edwa d J. Jones
d
, Voj ech Lukas
e
, E ic Boenecke
, Joe g Ruehlmann
, Ingma Sch oe e
g
,
Ecka K ame
g
, S e an Pae zold
h
, Masakazu Kodai a
i
, Alexand e M.J.-C. Wadoux
j
,
Luca B agazza
k
, Kon ad Me zge
k
, Jingyi Huang
l
, Domingos S.M. Valen e
m
,
Jose L. Sa anelli
n
, Edua do L. Bo ega
o
, Rica do S.D. Dalmolin
p
, Csilla Fa kas
q
,
Alexande S eige
, Tacia a Z. Ho s
s
, Leona do Rami ez-Lopez
,u
, Thomas Schol en
,w
,
Felix S ump
x
, Pablo Rosso
y
, Ma celo M. Cos a
z
, Rod igo S. Zandonadi
aa
,
Johanna We e lind
ab
, Ma in A zmuelle
a,ac
a
Osnab ück Uni e si y, Join Lab A i icial In elligence and Da a Science, Osnab ück, Ge many
b
Leibniz Ins i u e o Ag icul u al Enginee ing and Bioeconomy (ATB), Depa men o Ag omecha onics, Po sdam, Ge many
c
Uni e si y o S˜
ao Paulo (USP), Cen e o Nuclea Ene gy in Ag icul u e (CENA), Pi acicaba, B azil
d
The Uni e si y o Sydney, Sydney Ins i u e o Ag icul u e, Sydney, Aus alia
e
Mendel Uni e si y in B no, Depa men o Ag osys ems and Bioclima ology, B no, Czech Republic
Leibniz Ins i u e o Vege able and O namen al C ops, Nex Gene a ion Ho icul u al Sys ems, G ossbee en, Ge many
g
Ebe swalde Uni e si y o Sus ainable De elopmen , Landscape Managemen and Na u e Conse a ion, Ebe swalde, Ge many
h
Uni e si y o Bonn, Ins i u e o C op Science and Resou ce Conse a ion (INRES)—Soil Science and Soil Ecology, Bonn, Ge many
i
Tokyo Uni e si y o Ag icul u e and Technology, Ins i u e o Ag icul u e, Tokyo, Japan
j
LISAH, Uni . Mon pellie , Ag oPa isTech, INRAE, IRD, L’Ins i u Ag o, Mon pellie , F ance
k
Ag oscope, Field-C op Sys ems and Plan Nu i ion, Nyon, Swi ze land
l
Uni e si y o Wisconsin-Madison, Depa men o Soil Science, Madison, USA
m
Fede al Uni e si y o Viçosa, Depa men o Ag icul u al Enginee ing, Viçosa, B azil
n
Woodwell Clima e Resea ch Cen e , Falmou h, USA
o
Fede al Uni e si y o San a Ma ia (UFSM), Academic Coo dina ion, San a Ma ia, B azil
p
Fede al Uni e si y o San a Ma ia (UFSM), Soil Depa men , San a Ma ia, B azil
q
No wegian Ins i u e o Bioeconomy Resea ch (NIBIO), Di ision o En i onmen and Na u al Resou ces, Aas, No way
Uni e si y o Ros ock, Chai o Geodesy and Geoin o ma ics, Ros ock, Ge many
s
Fede al Technological Uni e si y o Pa an´
a, Dois Vizinhos, B azil
BÜCHI Labo echnik AG, Da a Science Depa men , Flawil, Swi ze land
u
Impe ial College London, Impe ial College Business School, London, UK
Uni e si y o Tübingen, Depa men o Geosciences, Tübingen, Ge many
w
Uni e si y o Tübingen, DFG Clus e o Excellence ‘Machine Lea ning o Science’, Ge many
x
Be n Uni e si y o Applied Sciences, Compe ence Cen e o Soils, Zolliko en, Swi ze land
y
Leibniz Cen e o Ag icul u al Landscape Resea ch (ZALF), Simula ion and Da a Science, Münchebe g, Ge many
z
Fede al Uni e si y o Ja aí, Ins i u e o Ag icul u al Sciences, Ja ai, B azil
aa
Fede al Uni e si y o Ma o G osso, Ins u e o Ag icul u al and En i onmen al Scinces, Sinop, B azil
ab
Swedish Uni e si y o Ag icul u al Sciences (SLU), Depa men o Soil and En i onmen , Ska a, Sweden
ac
Ge man Resea ch Cen e o A i icial In elligence (DFKI), Resea ch Depa men Plan-Based Robo Con ol, Osnab ück, Ge many
ARTICLE INFO
Handling Edi o : B andon Heung
ABSTRACT
Digi al soil mapping (DSM) elies on a b oad pool o s a is ical me hods, ye de e mining he op imal me hod o
a gi en con ex emains challenging and con en ious. Benchma king s udies on mul iple da ase s a e needed o
e eal s eng hs and limi a ions o commonly used me hods. Exis ing DSM s udies usually ely on a single da ase
* Co esponding au ho .
E-mail add ess: [email p o ec ed] (J. Schmidinge ).
Con en s lis s a ailable a ScienceDi ec
Geode ma
jou nal homepage: www.else ie .com/loca e/geode ma
h ps://doi.o g/10.1016/j.geode ma.2025.117337
Recei ed 4 Ma ch 2025; Recei ed in e ised o m 30 Ap il 2025; Accep ed 6 May 2025
Geode ma 459 (2025) 117337
A ailable online 20 May 2025
0016-7061/© 2025 The Au ho (s). Published by Else ie B.V. This is an open access a icle unde he CC BY license ( h p://c ea i ecommons.o g/licenses/by/4.0/ ).
Keywo ds:
Machine lea ning
Benchma king
Open da a
Da ase collec ion
Digi al soil mapping
Pedome ics
wi h es ic ed access, leading o incomple e and po en ially misleading conclusions. To add ess hese issues, we
in oduce an open-access da ase collec ion called P ecision Liming Soil Da ase s (LimeSoDa). LimeSoDa consis s
o 31 ield- and a m-scale da ase s om a ious coun ies. Each da ase has h ee a ge soil p ope ies: (1) soil
o ganic ma e o soil o ganic ca bon, (2) clay con en and (3) pH, alongside a se o ea u es. Fea u es a e
da ase -speci ic and we e ob ained by op ical spec oscopy, p oximal- and emo e soil sensing. All da ase s we e
aligned o a abula o ma and a e eady- o-use o modeling. We demons a ed he use o LimeSoDa o
benchma king by compa ing he p edic i e pe o mance o ou lea ning algo i hms ac oss all da ase s. This
compa ison included mul iple linea eg ession (MLR), suppo ec o eg ession (SVR), ca ego ical boos ing
(Ca Boos ) and andom o es (RF). The esul s showed ha al hough no single algo i hm was uni e sally su-
pe io , ce ain algo i hms pe o med be e in speci ic con ex s. MLR and SVR pe o med be e on high-
dimensional spec al da ase s, likely due o be e compa ibili y wi h p incipal componen s. In con as , Ca -
Boos and RF exhibi ed conside ably be e pe o mances when applied o da ase s wi h a mode a e numbe
(<20) o ea u es. These benchma king esul s illus a e ha he pe o mance o s a is ical me hods can be highly
con ex -dependen . LimeSoDa he e o e p o ides an impo an esou ce o imp o ing he de elopmen and
e alua ion o s a is ical me hods in DSM.
1. In oduc ion
In digi al soil mapping (DSM), s a is ical modeling o he ela ion-
ships be ween labo a o y measu ed soil p ope ies and seconda y ea-
u es is used o c ea e soil maps o en i onmen al and ag icul u al
applica ions. A key goal o DSM esea ch is o con inuously imp o e he
accu acy o soil maps (Minasny and McB a ney, 2016). Gi en he s a-
is ical and compu a ional na u e o he ask, mos o he ecen esea ch
has ocused on imp o ing accu acy by implemen ing mo e sophis ica ed
modeling app oaches—especially, since he adop ion o machine
lea ning (ML) and deep lea ning algo i hms has inc eased p edic i e
capabili ies (Heu elink and Webs e , 2022). Howe e , modeling pipe-
lines in DSM a e usually no s aigh o wa d because se e al s a is ical
challenges ha e o be add essed such as high-dimensional, noisy and
in e co ela ed ea u es (Shi e al., 2023); he inco po a ion o spa ial
and some imes empo al componen s (Heu elink and Webs e , 2022); o
e y sca ce aining da a (Schmidinge e al., 2024b). Va ious s a is ical
me hods ha e been sugges ed and de eloped in esponse. These ange
om di e en ML algo i hms (Wadoux e al., 2020), p e-p ocessing
echniques (Shi e al., 2023) and da a usion app oaches (Wang e al.,
2022) o he de elopmen o new sampling designs (B us, 2019). While
each o he sugges ed me hods may se e a speci ic pu pose, i is di icul
o keep ack o he b oad and e e -e ol ing pool o a ailable ools. In
addi ion, di e en s udies o en show con adic o y conclusions abou
he e ec i eness o commonly used me hods, as discussed by ˇ
Zíˇ
zala
e al. (2024) o sampling designs, Shi e al. (2023) o p e-p ocessing
echniques, o Heung e al. (2016) o lea ning algo i hms. As a esul ,
i o en emains unclea how obus each o hese me hods is and o
which con ex hey a e mos sui able. T us wo hy and in o ma i e
benchma king s udies a e needed o ully unde s and hei capabili ies
and s eng hs.
Benchma king e e s o he me hodological compa ison o
compe ing s a is ical me hods o assess and ank hei capabili ies (Nießl
e al., 2022). Essen ially, in a benchma king s udy, he pe o mance o
wo o mo e me hods (e.g., lea ning algo i hms) a e compa ed based on
e alua ion me ics (e.g., R
2
). Such s udies a e al eady common in DSM,
as shown by ou suppo ing li e a u e e iew on benchma king s udies
in 2023, p o ided in Appendix A. Howe e , he in o ma i e alue o
hem is o en limi ed because he unde lying s udy designs do no sup-
po comp ehensi e and gene alizable conclusions. In he ollowing, we
will e e o he main indings om he li e a u e e iew on DSM
benchma king (Appendix A) o highligh cu en ly p esen sho comings
acco ding o se e al guidelines on benchma king (e.g., Boules eix e al.,
2017; Nießl e al., 2022; Webe e al., 2019).
We obse ed ha o e 95 % o DSM s udies elied on a single da ase
o hei benchma king (see Appendix A, Fig. A2). These single da ase s
we e ei he s udy-speci ic p op ie a y da ase s o one o he ew a ail-
able open-access op ions, such as he Land Use and Co e age A ea F ame
Su ey (LUCAS) (O giazzi e al., 2018). Howe e , gi en ha he
pe o mance o me hods s ongly depend on he con ex and inhe en
pa e ns wi hin da ase s, benchma king should include a subs an ially
la ge numbe o da ase s (Boules eix e al., 2015; S obl and Leisch,
2024). The la ges numbe o da ase s used o DSM benchma king in
2023 was h ee (Appendix A, Fig. A2). In con as , classical ML s udies
may ea u e ens o o e a hund ed da ase s o hei benchma king
(Shmuel e al., 2024). Including a la ge numbe o da ase s ensu es a
mo e obus analysis, as esul s will be less in luenced by indi idual
da ase -speci ic pa e ns. Mo eo e , i allows he e alua ion o me hods
unde a ying condi ions, which helps o unco e hei con ex -speci ic
s eng hs and limi a ions (G insz ajn e al., 2022; Shmuel e al., 2024).
Ano he c i ical aspec o obus benchma king is he open accessi-
bili y o bo h code and da a. Fewe han 10 % o DSM benchma king
s udies p o ided open da ase s and e en less han 5 % sha ed hei code
(see Appendix A, Fig. A1), which is ma ginal compa ed o o he
compu a ional scien i ic ields (Lau ina ichyu e e al., 2022; Pineau
e al., 2021). While many s udies (48 %) included a s a emen ha
indica ed a willingness ‘ o sha e da a upon eques ’, p io s udies on
ep oducibili y ha e demons a ed ha only a mino i y o esea che s
e en ually comply wi h his commi men (K a z and S asse , 2014;
Lau ina ichyu e e al., 2022). The e o e, mos DSM benchma k s udies
mus be deemed i ep oducible. Rep oducibili y in he con ex o
modeling is c ucial no only o iden i ying po en ial e o s h ough code
e iew (G eene e al., 2017) bu also because i allows esea che s o
build upon exis ing wo k o cumula i e scien i ic p og ess (Kapoo and
Na ayanan, 2022). Ye , ep oducibili y becomes e en mo e c i ical in
he con ex o benchma king. Benchma king is o en conduc ed along-
side he in oduc ion o new me hods o p o e hei me i s. I has been
a gued ha his can make he benchma king inhe en ly biased owa ds
he newly p oposed me hod (Nießl e al., 2022; Webe e al., 2019). This
is because au ho s can ha e a compe i i e d i en in e es in publishing
esul s ha show hei no el me hod as supe io o common compe i o s
(B own e al., 2017). Such supe io i y may be achie ed h ough un ai
s udy design choices, al hough o en unin en ionally (Nießl e al., 2022).
In con as , ep oducible esea ch wi h sha ed code and sha ed da a
encou ages mo e igo ous and less biased s udy designs.
We a ibu e he wo a o emen ioned sho comings (i.e., he eliance
on oo ew da ase s in benchma king and he lack o ep oducibili y), in
pa icula o he lack o open da ase s o DSM pu poses. This issue has
been add essed in o he academic ields wi h he es ablishmen o
benchma k da ase collec ions (e.g., Mo is e al., 2020; Romano e al.,
2022). Howe e , a compa able collec ion does no ye exis o DSM.
While p og ess has been made o imp o e he da a-a ailabili y as indi-
ca ed by he open soil spec oscopy lib a y (OSSL) by Sa anelli e al.
(2025) and o he soil-da abases (Gobezie e al., 2024), he ew exis ing
open soil da ase s a e p ima ily ocused on la ge-scale labo a o y-based
soil spec oscopy o include only he a ge soil p ope ies wi hou
accompanying p edic o ea u es. Fu he mo e, some open da ase s (e.
g., LUCAS) we e published unde es ic i e licenses, which p ohibi s
J. Schmidinge e al.
Geode ma 459 (2025) 117337
2
sha ing o he da ase wi hin a code eposi o y. On he o he hand, open
da ase s om a ield- and a m-scale o high- esolu ion p ecision ag i-
cul u e a e almos comple ely missing, despi e he ac ha p ecision
ag icul u e wi h p oximal soil senso s is an impo an applica ion o
DSM (Gebbe s and Adamchuk, 2010). Field-scale DSM wi h p oximal
soil senso s has i s own dis inc i e challenges such as aining da a
sca ci y (Schmidinge e al., 2024b) nex o high-dimensional da a
usion (Schmidinge e al., 2024a; Wang e al., 2022). To add ess hese
issues, we in oduce P ecision Liming Soil Da ase s (LimeSoDa). LimeSoDa
is an open da ase collec ion wi h small-scale da ase s, ha a e eady- o-
use o modeling. This expands he possibili y o DSM p ac i ione s o
benchma k s a is ical me hods ac oss a a ie y o soil mapping con ex s.
In Sec ion 2, we p o ide an o e iew o he da ase s included in
LimeSoDa. Addi ionally, we p esen an example benchma k s udy in
which we compa ed ou lea ning algo i hms (Sec ion 3), o demon-
s a e how LimeSoDa can lead o mo e comp ehensi e and nuanced
conclusions. Las ly, Sec ion 4 o e s an ou look on he po en ial appli-
ca ions o LimeSoDa beyond he p esen s udy.
2. LimeSoDa
2.1. O e iew
LimeSoDa con ains 31 da ase s a ield- o a m-scale. Da ase s a e
eady- o-use o modeling, which means ha hey con ain con inuous
a ge soil p ope ies and ea u es in a abula o ma , usable o
eg ession asks. Th ee a ge soil p ope ies a e included in all da ase s:
soil o ganic ma e (SOM) o soil o ganic ca bon (SOC), pH and clay.
Since SOC and SOM a e di ec ly ela ed, we ea ed hem in e change-
ably as a single soil p ope y. These h ee soil p ope ies a e among he
mos commonly e alua ed soil p ope ies in DSM (Chen e al., 2022) and
a e c ucial pa ame e s o assessing soil quali y. We e e o his
benchma king collec ion as “LimeSoDa” because hese h ee a ge soil
p ope ies a e no exclusi ely bu especially ele an o lime equi e-
men calcula ions, acco ding o bes managemen p ac ices in he UK
and Ge many (Ag icul u e Ho icul u e De elopmen Boa d, 2023;
B¨
onecke e al., 2021). Fea u es o modeling a e da ase -speci ic and
o igina e om labo a o y-based spec oscopy, in-si u p oximal soil
sensing, and emo e sensing. Da ase s a e eleased unde a pe missi e
open-access license, allowing implemen a ion in a code- eposi o y o
inc ease he possibili y o code sha ing. Addi ionally, p e-de e mined
olds o c oss alida ion (CV) a e p o ided o each da ase , o enable
compa abili y wi h ou benchma king and u u e benchma king esul s.
In o al, he combined da ase s include 3,174 soil samples bu sample
sizes o indi idual da ase s ange om 30 o 460 samples.
P e-p ocessing is no manda o y when wo king wi h LimeSoDa
da ase s. Howe e , o da ase s wi h high-dimensional spec al da a,
ea u e dimensionali y educ ion is s ongly encou aged. Ne e heless,
u he p e-p ocessing may imp o e modeling pe o mances, an aspec
ha should i sel be benchma ked using his da ase collec ion.
Table 1
Lis o da ase s included in LimeSoDa.
Da ase ID Loca ion S udy A ea
(ha)
Numbe o
Samples
Numbe o
Fea u es
Senso Da a* P e ious Usage**
SSP.460 S a e o Sao Paulo, B azil 473 460 830 is-NIR Rami ez-Lopez e al. (2019)
BB.250 B andenbu g, Ge many 52 250 17 DEM, ERa, Gamma, pH-ISE,
RSS, VI
Schmidinge e al. (2024b)
SP.231 Sai ama P e ec u e, Japan 3.1 231 272 is-NIR Kodai a and Shibusawa (2020)
B.204 Bahia, B azil 204 204 16 DEM, RSS, VI Pe ei a e al. (2022)
G.150 Goias, B azil 79 150 17 DEM, ERa, RSS, VI Valen e e al. (2024)
H.138 Hubei, China 420 138 2,489 MIR Wadoux e al. (2025)
SL.125 Skåne L¨
an, Sweden 78 125 2,082 ERa, is-NIR We e lind e al. (2010)
UL.120 Uppsala L¨
an, Sweden 97 120 2,082 ERa, is-NIR We e lind e al. (2010)
NRW.115 No h Rhine-Wes phalia, Ge many 17 115 1,686 MIR Leenen e al. (2022)
MG.112 Ma o G osso, B azil 111 112 17 DEM, ERa, RSS, VI Valen e e al. (2024)
SA.112 Saxony-Anhal , Ge many 27 112 1,412 DEM, ERa, Gamma, NIR, pH-
ISE, VI
−
G.104 Goias, B azil 95 104 16 DEM, RSS, VI −
MGS.101 Ma o G osso do Sul, B azil 95 101 16 DEM, RSS, VI −
CV.98 Can on o Vaud, Swi ze land 28 98 2,151 is-NIR Me zge e al. (2024)
SC.93 San a Ca a iMG-na, B azil 108 93 2,146 is-NIR Ho s e al. (2018)
BB.72 B andenbu g, Ge many 3.4 72 17 DEM, ERa, Gamma, pH-ISE,
RSS, VI
−
NRW.62 No h Rhine-Wes phalia, Ge many 0.6 62 1,686 MIR Leenen e al. (2019)
RP.62 Rhineland-Pala ina e, Ge many 3.3 62 1,410 ERa, Gamma, NIR, pH-ISE, VI Ta akoli e al. (2022)
SSP.58 S a e o Sao Paulo, B azil 0.7 58 351 is-NIR Ta a es e al. (2020)
NSW.52 New Sou h Wales, Aus alia 1,158 52 5 DEM, RSS Filippi e al. (2019)Jones e al.
(2021)
BB.51 B andenbu g, Ge many 40 51 4 DEM, ERa, pH-ISE −
SC.50 San a Ca a ina, B azil 13 50 3 DEM, ERa Bo ega e al. (2022)
W.50 Wisconsin, USA 80 50 15 DEM, ERa, VI, XRF Cha e jee e al. (2021)
PC.45 Pes Coun y, Hunga y 4.5 45 4 CSMois u e, ERa Ris olainen e al. (2006)
MG.44 Ma o G osso, B azil 13 44 351 is-NIR Ta a es e al. (2020)
NRW.42 No h Rhine-Wes phalia, Ge many 1.5 42 1,686 MIR Leenen e al. (2019)
SM.40 Sou h Mo a ia, Czechia 53 40 3 DEM, ERa Lukas e al. (2009)
MWP.36 Mecklenbu g-Wes e n Pome ania,
Ge many
18 36 5 DEM, RSS S eige e al. (2025)
O.32 Occi ania, F ance 1.5 32 1,637 MIR Weh le e al. (2022)
BB.30_1 B andenbu g, Ge many 19 30 8 DEM, ERa, pH-ISE, VI −
BB.30_2 B andenbu g, Ge many 1.4 30 13 DEM, ERa, Gamma, RSS, VI −
*Abb e ia ions: Capaci i e soil mois u e (CSMois u e), Digi al ele a ion model and e ain pa ame e s (DEM); Appa en elec ical esis i i y (ERa); Gamma- ay ac-
i i y (Gamma); Mid in a ed spec oscopy (MIR); Nea in a ed spec oscopy (NIR); Ion selec i e elec odes o pH de e mina ion (pH-ISE); Remo e sensing de i ed
spec al da a (RSS), X- ay luo escence de i ed elemen al concen a ions (XRF), Vege a ion indices (VI), Visible- and nea in a ed spec oscopy ( is-NIR).
** The da ase s used in he e e enced s udies does no always comple ely align wi h he da ase s o LimeSoDa, because only a subse o addi ional da a may ha e been
used.
J. Schmidinge e al.
Geode ma 459 (2025) 117337
3
All da ase s we e collec ed in he con ex o p e ious s udies o
esea ch p ojec s. The as majo i y o hese da ase s had no been
publicly a ailable p io o his e o . Hence, LimeSoDa is buil upon
olun a ily submissions om esea che s and esea ch ins i u es. An
o e iew o each da ase is p o ided in Table 1. Da ase s we e included
based on he ollowing ou c i e ia:
P ecision liming con ex : A da ase had o con ain SOM/SOC, pH,
and clay as opsoil (<30 cm) a ge p ope ies a ield- and a m-scale
(<2,000 ha).
We chemis y: Ta ge soil p ope ies had o be de e mined h ough
we chemis y echniques ins ead o being in e ed om spec al models.
P edic i e pe o mance: Ta ge soil p ope ies had o be p edic -
able wi h he gi en da ase -speci ic se o ea u es. We excluded da ase s
whe e no lea ning algo i hm ou pe o med he null model (i.e., wi h an
R
2
<0) o any o he h ee a ge soil p ope ies gi en he modeling
pipeline in Sec ion 3.1.
Sample size: A da ase had o con ain a minimum size o a leas 30
soil samples o all h ee soil p ope ies a he same dis inc sampling
loca ions.
Da ase s we e no excluded because o hei sampling design. Fo
example, some da ase s we e based on a a ge ed sampling design (see
Appendix B, Table B1), which e e s o sampling ocused on speci ic
a eas o ea u es o in e es a he han andom o sys ema ic sampling.
The alida ion o soil maps gene a ed om a ge ed- o spa ially clus-
e ed sampling wi hou an addi ional independen es ing sample se is
con o e sial because he absolu e pe o mance may no be eliably
es ima ed h ough CV o da a spli ing (Piikki e al., 2021). Howe e , we
a gue ha o he pu pose o benchma king, he ela i e pe o mance
di e ences emain in o ma i e. None heless, use s o LimeSoDa can
decide i hey p e e o he alida ion s a egies ha ake in o accoun
he spa ial dependency o pa e n o a da ase .
Spa ial coo dina es a e a ailable o mo e han hal o he da ase s
(see Appendix B, Fig. B1). In o he cases, coo dina es had o be excluded
o anonymized mos ly because o p i acy conce ns.
2.2. P ocessing o da ase s
Only a minimal amoun o p ocessing was conduc ed o da ase s o
LimeSoDa o ensu e ha he da a was as close o he o iginal o m as
possible while s ill enabling e ec i e benchma king. This gi es use s o
LimeSoDa he lexibili y o apply hei own p e-p ocessing on he
da ase s. O dina y k iging was employed o da ase s collec ed wi h on-
he-go p oximal soil senso s o ma ch sensing loca ions wi h soil sam-
pling loca ions. Fo ea u es a ailable in as e o ma (DEM, RSS and
VI), ea u e alues we e ex ac ed a he soil sampling loca ions. Some
senso s had an unde lying da a-p ocessing s ep wi hin hei in e nal
so wa e. This led o some op ical spec oscopy da a being esampled o
di e en wa ebands and spec al esolu ions compa ed o he measu ed
aw da a. Fo da ase s wi h limi ed aining samples (<60 samples), we
included ewe emo e sensing-based ea u es o main ain a a o able
sample- o- ea u e a io. P ocessing s eps a e documen ed in mo e de ail
in he me ada a o he da ase s. Samples wi h missing alues in ei he
he ea u e o a ge soil p ope y ma ix we e always disca ded. Two
spec oscopy da ase s (H.138 and NRW.115) had a ew samples wi h
e lec ance alues abo e 100 % o ce ain bands (see Appendix B,
Fig. B2). Whe he hese anomalies a e due o noise o ins umen al
calib a ion is unclea . Ne e heless, we did no disca d hese samples o
bands om he da ase .
I is impo an o no e ha da ase s ac oss LimeSoDa we e delibe -
a ely no ha monized. While his educes he possibili y o c oss-da ase
lea ning, i inc eased he lexibili y o including da ase s om a ious
con ex s and domains wi hou elying on many assump ions necessa y
o da a ha moniza ion. The aim o LimeSoDa is no o build a uni ied
da abase bu o p o ide mul iple smalle da ase s ha a e independen
en ies o a benchma king s udy. As a consequence, a ge soil p op-
e ies a e some imes exp essed in di e en uni s depending on he
measu emen me hod (see Appendix B, Fig. B2). This dis inguishes
LimeSoDa om spec al lib a ies, ha ely on ha moniza ion o spec al
ea u es and soil p ope ies (Sa anelli e al., 2025). None heless, o
cohe ence wi hin LimeSoDa, we ans o med he appa en elec ical
conduc i i y o ERa and spec al measu emen s a e exp essed as
e lec ance.
2.3. Accessibili y
LimeSoDa is closely aligned o he FAIR-p inciples (Wilkinson e al.,
2016). I is eely accessible h ough Zenodo (h ps://doi.o g/10.5
281/zenodo.14932573), is licensed unde CC BY-SA 4.0 and con ains
ex ensi e documen a ion in he o m o da ase -speci ic me ada a.
Addi ionally, an R- and Py hon da ase package, called likewise Lime-
SoDa downloadable om Gi Hub, was c ea ed. I can be accessed
h ough gi hub.com/JonasSchmidinge /LimeSoDa o R and h ps://
gi hub.com/a11 o1n3/LimeSoDa o Py hon.
3. Demons a i e benchma k s udy
3.1. Me hodology
A benchma king s udy was conduc ed o demons a e he use o
LimeSoDa. Fou lea ning algo i hms we e compa ed based on hei
p edic i e pe o mance. These included andom o es (RF) (B eiman,
2001) and suppo ec o eg ession (SVR) due o hei widesp ead use
in DSM (Khaledian and Mille , 2020), ca ego ical boos ing (Ca Boos )
(P okho enko a e al., 2018) because o i s s ong pe o mances in
ecen ML benchma king s udies on abula da ase s (McEl esh e al.,
2023; Shmuel e al., 2024) and mul iple linea eg ession (MLR) o
include a simple baseline model. We ained and e alua ed each algo-
i hm independen ly on SOC/SOM, pH and clay o each o he 31
da ase s o LimeSoDa. Consequen ly, a o al o 93 p edic ion asks (31
da ase s ×3 a ge soil p ope ies) we e u ilized in he benchma king.
Ac oss hese 93 p edic ion asks, algo i hms we e compa ed on he R
2
and he o dinally anked oo mean squa e e o (RMSE) (see Appendix
C.1). Addi ionally, he Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Tes was used o de e -
mine whe he he mean o dinal anks based on he RMSE signi ican ly
di e ed (
α
=0.1) among he lea ning algo i hms.
The lea ning algo i hms we e e alua ed and hype pa ame e s uned,
using a nes ed K- old c oss alida ion (CV), wi h he ou e loop (K =10)
used o model es ing and he inne loop (K’ =5) o hype pa ame e
selec ion. The op imal hype pa ame e combina ions o SVR, Ca Boos
and RF we e selec ed h ough a andom sea ch wi h 400 i e a ions based
on he lowes agg ega ed RMSE o he inne loop. The hype pa ame e
sea ch-space is gi en in Table 2.
Fo da ase s wi h high-dimensional op ical spec oscopy da a ( is-
NIR, NIR o MIR), modeling wi h he aw da a is s ongly limi ed due o
he un a o able sample o ea u e a io. Hence, we duplica ed he
hype pa ame e sea ch space o 800 i e a ions and added wo unsu-
pe ised bu compu a ionally e icien me hods o dimensionali y
educ ion as addi ional hype pa ame e b anch: p incipal componen
analysis (PCA) and a co ela ion ma ix il e (CMF) (Pe ez-Ri e ol e al.,
2017). CMF and PCA we e applied only o he is-NIR, NIR, o MIR
ea u es a e he sepa a ion o aining and es ing o alida ion olds.
Wi h CMF, spec al ea u es we e disca ded when he absolu e pai wise
Pea son co ela ion coe icien exceeded a de ined cu o , ollowing he
indCo ela ion algo i hm o he R-package ca e (Kuhn, 2008). The
cu o o CMF anged om 0.7 o 1, whe e CMF =1 e e s o no
dimensionali y educ ion, and he numbe o sea ched p incipal com-
ponen s o PCA om 5 o 20. Algo i hm 1 p esen s he modeling
pipeline as pseudocode. The ac ual R-code is a ailable on gi hub.com
/JonasSchmidinge /LimeSoDa_benchma king.
J. Schmidinge e al.
Geode ma 459 (2025) 117337
4
3.2. Resul s & Discussion
The R
2
dis ibu ion ob ained om all p edic ion asks wi h he ou
di e en lea ning algo i hms is shown in Fig. 1a. O e all, he e appea
o be small di e ences in he pe o mance dis ibu ion. Al hough SVR
and Ca Boos achie ed he bes a e age R
2
o 0.44 ac oss all p edic ion
asks, hey we e only mode a ely be e han MLR, which had he lowes
a e age R
2
o 0.40. Simila ly, his is also e lec ed by he o dinally
anked RMSE in Fig. 2a. I illus a es how equen ly a p edic ion al-
go i hm achie ed each ank compa ed o o he s, based on he ascending
RMSE. Fo example, MLR had he lowes (i.e., he bes ) RMSE o 27 % o
he p edic ion asks, ecei ing he i s ank. Simul aneously, i had he
highes (i.e., he wo s ) RMSE o 30 % o p edic ion asks, placing i in
he ou h ank. O e all, Fig. 2a esembles a uni o m-like dis ibu ion.
This means ha each lea ning algo i hm had oughly he same numbe
o p edic ion asks in which hey anked bes o wo s . The Wilcoxon
Signed-Rank Tes u he con i med ha di e ences among he lea ning
algo i hms we e no s a is ically signi ican (Fig. 2a). This migh be
su p ising o some DSM p ac i ione s, because mo e sophis ica ed
me hods a e o en expec ed o signi ican ly ou pe o m a simple model
like MLR (Pada ian e al., 2020). Howe e , di e en lea ning algo-
i hms, including simplis ic models like MLR, ha e ad an ages unde
ce ain condi ions, as illus a ed in he nex pa ag aphs.
G ouping he p edic ion asks based on he p esence o absence o
is-NIR, NIR o MIR ea u es e eals a signi ican shi in he pe o -
mance dis ibu ion among he lea ning algo i hms (Fig. 1b-c & Fig. 2b-
c). The g ouping is made because da ase s wi h is-NIR, NIR and MIR a e
cha ac e ized by a highly in la ed ea u e o aining sample a io, so
ha dimensionali y educ ion is usually necessa y p io o he modeling.
On da ase s wi hou is-NIR, NIR and MIR, ee-based lea ning
Table 2
Hype pa ame e sea ch-space o SVR, Ca Boos and RF, whe e a andom
ins ance is d awn om he gi en dis ibu ion. Names o he hype pa ame e s
e e o he ange R-package (W igh and Ziegle , 2017) o RF, ca boos R-
package o Ca Boos (Dmi ie e al., 2024) and e1071 R-package (Meye e al.,
2024) o SVR.
Lea ning Algo i hm Hype pa ame e Sea ch Space Dis ibu ion
Ca Boos dep h [1, 10] Disc e e Uni o m
lea ning_ a e [0.005, 0.5] Log-Uni o m
i e a ions [50, 2000] Disc e e Uni o m
l2_lea _ eg [0, 10] Uni o m
sm [0.6, 1] Uni o m
subsample [0.6, 1] Uni o m
andom_s eng h [0.001, 10] Log-Uni o m
RF num. ees =2 000 −
m y [0.1, 1]* Uni o m
min.node.size [1, 12] Disc e e Uni o m
max.dep h [1, 10] Disc e e Uni o m
sample. ac ion [0.6, 1] Uni o m
SVR cos [0.01, 1000] Log-Uni o m
gamma [0.001, 10] Log-Uni o m
ke nel [linea , adial] Disc e e Uni o m
* Gi en as ac ion ins ead o absolu e alue inpu o R- unc ion.
J. Schmidinge e al.
Geode ma 459 (2025) 117337
5

algo i hms (i.e., RF and Ca Boos ) conside ably ou pe o med SVR and
MLR (Fig. 1b). This is u he highligh ed by he ac ha in 63 % o he
p edic ion asks in hese da ase s, RF o Ca Boos had he bes pe o -
mance (Fig. 2b). Meanwhile, MLR o SVR had he wo s pe o mance in
72.5 % o he cases. The ad an ages o ee-based lea ning algo i hms
o egula abula da ase s ha e been highligh ed in nume ous bench-
ma king s udies (G insz ajn e al., 2022; Shmuel e al., 2024; Shwa z-
Zi and A mon, 2022). Thei pa icula s eng hs include e ec i e eg-
ula iza ion when dealing wi h mul icollinea i y and i ele an ea u es,
along wi h he abili y o lea n i egula unc ions o in e ac ions. Fo his
eason, ee-based algo i hms, mos no ably RF, ha e become he mos
widely used lea ning algo i hms in DSM (Khaledian and Mille , 2020).
Opposi e esul s a e e iden o da ase s wi h is-NIR, NIR and MIR.
He e, SVR and MLR had on a e age an R
2
conside ably la ge han ha
o Ca Boos and RF (Fig. 1c). Addi ionally, hey anked i s in 69 % o
he p edic ion asks (Fig. 2c), whe eas RF o Ca Boos had he wo s
pe o mances in 73.8 % o he cases. The e y high dimensionali y and
inhe en mul icollinea i y in spec al da a, whe e adjacen bands a e
o en highly co ela ed, made ea u e dimensionali y educ ion ech-
niques, such as PCA and CMF, essen ial. Fo example, he da ase O.32
had up o 1,637 ea u es bu only 32 soil samples a ailable o aining
(Table 1). Lea ning algo i hms would se e ely o e i on his in la ed
ea u e o aining sample a io. Howe e , CMF and especially PCA
acili a ed p ope modeling, as shown by he bes selec ed
Fig. 1. Violin plo showing he dis ibu ion o R
2
alues g ouped by lea ning algo i hms o p edic ion asks om (a) all da ase s, (b) da ase s wi hou is-NIR, NIR,
o MIR, and (c) da ase s wi h is-NIR, NIR, o MIR. Ho izon al lines wi h labels ep esen he mean R
2
alue.
Fig. 2. Ba plo showing he ela i e equency dis ibu ion o o dinal anks based on he lowes RMSE (i.e., lowe ank numbe indica es be e pe o mance) o he
ou lea ning algo i hms o p edic ions asks om (a) all da ase s, (b) da ase s wi hou is-NIR, NIR, o MIR, and (c) da ase s wi h is-NIR, NIR, o MIR. Mean anks
o he o dinally anked RMSE o he lea ning algo i hms a e shown, including signi icance le e s om he Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Tes (
α
=0.1) o indica e whe he
he pe o mance di e ences be ween he lea ning algo i hms we e s a is ically signi ican .
J. Schmidinge e al.
Geode ma 459 (2025) 117337
6
hype pa ame e s (see Appendix C.2, Fig. 1C). This posed a disad an age
o he ee-based algo i hms because PCA has been epo ed o pe o m
weake when combined wi h ee-based algo i hms (Howley e al.,
2005). PCA c ea es new unco ela ed ea u es ha a e linea combina-
ions o he o iginal ea u es bu ee-based models a e in lexible o
adap o o a ed o ans o med da a ha do no ep esen he o iginal
ea u e composi ion (G insz ajn e al., 2022). Consequen ly, MLR and
SVR ou pe o med Ca Boos and RF due o hei be e compa ibili y
wi h PCA. P e ious benchma king s udies in soil spec oscopy, as
e iewed by Pada ian e al. (2020), ha e epo ed di e en ou comes
a o ing mo e sophis ica ed me hods. One possible explana ion o his
disc epancy is ha hese ea lie s udies elied on a single da ase , which
may inad e en ly lead o o e in e p e a ion o inciden al esul s.
Al e na i ely, an unin ended publica ion bias a o ing no el me hods
o e simple ones, as obse ed in o he compu a ional ields (Buchka
e al., 2021), could ha e con ibu ed o he di e ing ou comes. None-
heless, we acknowledge ha ee-based models possibly pe o m be e
on ull spec al da a when e y la ge aining se s a e a ailable
(Clingensmi h and G unwald, 2022) o wi h e ec i e ea u e selec ion
(Cane o e al., 2024). Such an ex ended analysis was no wi hin he
scope o his s udy.
Las ly, we ound a ela ionship be ween he mean o dinal ank o a
lea ning algo i hm and he sample size a ailable o a p edic ion ask
(Fig. 3). Mos no ably, MLR showed sensi i i y o he numbe o a ail-
able samples, as i s mean ank wo sened o da ase s wi h mo e han 100
samples. This aligns wi h p e ious esul s, which simila ly indica ed ha
MLR can ha e ad an ages o small sized da ase s bu may no be ideal i
enough aining da a is a ailable (Schmidinge e al., 2024b). The
opposi e beha io was obse ed o SVR, which conside ably imp o ed
i s ank o da ase s wi h mo e han 100 samples. Fo RF and Ca Boos ,
he e ec o he sample size was no as p onounced. Ca Boos was
sligh ly be e wi h mo e aining da a, whe eas RF was mo e e ec i e
o smalle da ase s.
Despi e he ad an ages ha ce ain lea ning algo i hms ha e, hei
supe io i y is no de e minis ic. Thei pe o mances can a y based on
nume ous ac o s and may no be op imal in e e y case. Fo example, RF
was gene ally he wo s pe o ming lea ning algo i hm o da ase s wi h
is-NIR, NIR and MIR (Fig. 1b), ye i s ill u ned ou o be bes in 10 % o
he p edic ion asks (Fig. 2b). The e o e, elying on a single da ase is
insu icien o es ablish he supe io i y o one me hod and may os e
misleading conclusions based on non-gene alizable esul s.
4. Fu he applica ions
Fo demons a i e pu poses, we es ic ed he benchma king o ou
lea ning algo i hms, al hough many o he ele an me hods emain o
be explo ed. The benchma king s udy o Sec ion 3.2 is ully ep oduc-
ible, as he code and da ase s ha e been published. The e o e, addi ional
lea ning algo i hms o di e en ea u e selec ion s a egies can eadily
be in eg a ed in o he pipeline o Sec ion 3.1 o u he ex end he
analysis. While neu al ne wo ks we e no included in his ini ial
benchma king due o hei ela i ely poo pe o mances in la ge
abula benchma king s udies (Shmuel e al., 2024), ecen ad ance-
men s in neu al ne wo ks designed o abula da a such as TabPFN
(Hollmann e al., 2025) ha e demons a ed p omising esul s. Fi s
success ul applica ions o TabPFN in DSM can be ound by Ba ko e al.
(2024) bu i s applica ion has o be u he e alua ed. Las ly, we
encou age ex ending he benchma king wi h mo e open da ase s, such
as hose a ailable om OSSL, in addi ion o LimeSoDa.
Wi hin he scope o his s udy, we ocused en i ely on he need o
open da ase s o benchma king pu poses o add ess cu en ly p esen
sho comings. None heless, he usage o LimeSoDa should no be
es ic ed o s a is ical benchma king o me hod de elopmen . Open
da ase s om a ious geog aphical con ex wi h di e en sensing ech-
niques may enhance ou gene al unde s anding o pedological p o-
cesses. I allows o he c i ical e alua ion o soil mapping in
ag onomical decision making and asses he obus ness o a ious soil
sensing echniques. Especially he liming con ex o he da ase can be
use ul o s udies in he ield o p ecision ag icul u e. Consequen ly,
LimeSoDa is a aluable ool o add essing key challenges o pedo-
me ics ou side o DSM benchma king (Wadoux e al., 2021). In o he
academic ields, seconda y da a analysis has al eady answe ed a ious
esea ch ques ions un ela ed o he o iginal esea ch pu pose o he
da ase (G eene e al., 2017). Las ly, spec oscopy da a om LimeSoDa
can be ha monized and added o o he spec al lib a ies as addi ional
aining da a o imp o e global modeling.
5. Conclusion
Cu en benchma king p ac ices in DSM su e om da a limi a ions
ha lead o incomple e o po en ially biased conclusions. The e is a lack
o open da ase s om a ious domains, spa ial dimensions and ypes o
senso s. To add ess his p oblem, we in oduced an open-access da a
collec ion called LimeSoDa, which cu en ly consis s o 31 ield- and
a m-scale da ase s. LimeSoDa o e s da ase s ha a e eady- o-use o
modeling and co e s a ious ypes o ea u es om di e en sensing
Fig. 3. Line plo showing he mean o dinal ank based on he lowes RMSE (i.e., lowe ank numbe indica es be e pe o mance) in dependence o he sample size.
Lines a e di e en ia ed by he ou lea ning algo i hms and he ype o ea u es p esen in he da ase o he p edic ion ask.
J. Schmidinge e al.
Geode ma 459 (2025) 117337
7
echniques. This enables hose who a e wo king in he ield o DSM o
benchma k s a is ical me hods on a di e se ange o soil da ase s.
Fu he , he open license is in ended o imp o e he ep oducibili y.
The u ili y o LimeSoDa was demons a ed h ough a benchma king
s udy wi h ou lea ning algo i hms. The esul s showed ha no algo-
i hm signi ican ly exceeded he o he s ac oss all da ase s. Ins ead,
di e en lea ning algo i hms had ad an ages depending on he ype o
ea u es and sample size o a da ase . On a e age, ee-based algo i hms,
i.e., Ca Boos and RF, pe o med be e on da ase s wi hou is-NIR, NIR
and MIR ea u es, p o ing hei sui abili y o con en ional abula
da ase s. In con as , SVR and MLR ou pe o med Ca Boos and RF o
da ase s wi h is-NIR, NIR and MIR due o hei be e compa ibili y
wi h PCA- ans o med da a. Addi ionally, he aining sample size
in luenced he anking o a lea ning algo i hm. The ela i e pe o mance
mos no ably dec eased o MLR and inc eased o SVR wi h mo e
aining samples.
A benchma king s udy based on a single da ase could no ha e
e ealed such con ex -dependen pe o mance o lea ning algo i hms.
Mo e so, elying on singula da ase s isks o e in e p e ing inciden al
ou comes and a po en ial publica ion bias a o ing newe me hods
canno be uled ou . In con as , LimeSoDa acili a es mo e in-dep h
analyses and enables comp ehensi e conclusions. Addi ionally, he
benchma king can eadily be ex ended wi h u he lea ning algo i hms
o p e-p ocessing echniques because da ase s and code a e openly
a ailable.
Beyond benchma king, he e a e u he applica ions and challenges
in pedome ics ha bene i om open da ase s. LimeSoDa can be used o
in es iga e pedological p ocesses ac oss di e se geog aphical con ex s
o he spec al da a can be in eg a ed in o o he spec oscopy lib a ies o
imp o e global modeling. In summa y, by p o iding a ich and di e se
collec ion o open da ase s, LimeSoDa has he po en ial o signi ican ly
ad ance ML applica ions in pedome ics.
Funding
This esea ch was suppo ed by he Lowe Saxony Minis y o Science
and Cul u e (MWK), unded h ough he zukun .niede sachsen p og am
o he Volkswagen Founda ion (ZN4072) as well as he Fede al Minis y
o Educa ion and Resea ch o Ge many (BMBF) h ough he BonaRes
p ojec I4S: In elligence o Soil (031B1069A). Compu e esou ces we e
unded by he Deu sche Fo schungsgemeinscha (DFG, Ge man
Resea ch Founda ion) p ojec numbe 456666331.
Decla a ion o compe ing in e es
The au ho s decla e ha hey ha e no known compe ing inancial
in e es s o pe sonal ela ionships ha could ha e appea ed o in luence
he wo k epo ed in his pape .
Acknowledgemen s
We a e hank ul o a lo o scien is s, ield- and echnical assis an s
who helped us o ga he he da a and me ada a o he da ase s.
Appendix A:. Li e a u e e iew on DSM benchma king s udies
Appendix A.1: Li e a u e e iew me hodology
The “Web o Science” da abase was used o he li e a u e e iew. We sea ched o “digi al soil mapping” and “p edic i e soil mapping” as
keywo ds in he abs ac o documen s de ined as “da a pape ”, “ea ly access” o “a icle” and es ic ed he sea ch o publica ions om he yea 2023.
This esul ed in an ini ial pool o 192 pape s. F om his pool, eigh pape s we e excluded because hey we e no w i en in English, missed DSM con ex
o we e inaccessible. Ano he 73 we e emo ed because he abs ac did no indica e ha any s a is ical benchma king was conduc ed, leading o a
o al o 111 pape s o he e iew on DSM benchma king p ac ices. As benchma king we conside ed a b oad de ini ion, encompassing any compa ison
o compe ing s a is ical me hods based on quan i ied alida ion me ics. This included compa isons o : p edic ion algo i hms, ea u e selec ion
me hods, sampling designs, enginee ed ea u es e c. We did no conside he compa ison o senso s o ea u es as benchma king, i he ocus did no lie
on he s a is ical enginee ing o he ea u es (e.g., empo al s acks). In some s udies, he benchma king was no he main objec i e o he s udy bu
a he supplemen a y in o ma ion. We also conside ed hese as “benchma king s udy” when he compa ison was men ioned in he abs ac .
The code and da a a ailabili y in each o he 111 pape s was e alua ed. We di e en ia ed be ween “no sha ed”, “sha ed” and “pa ially sha ed”.
The s a emen on ma e ial a ailabili y and any supplemen a y in o ma ion p o ided we e examined alongside keywo ds such as “ eposi o y”,
“da ase ”, “Gi Hub”, “Zenodo”, “code” e c. o de e mine he a ailabili y o code o da a. We classi ied any da a o code o be “sha ed” when hey we e
di ec ly accessible h ough he supplemen a y in o ma ion o a eposi o y (e.g., Zenodo o Gi Hub). In some code- eposi o ies, da ase s we e no
di ec ly p o ided due o es ic i e da ase licenses (e.g., as in LUCAS) bu links o he websi es ha hos ed hese da ase s we e added. This was also
conside ed as “sha ed” when i was p o ided in combina ion wi h he da ase p e-p ocessing code. In o he cases, links we e gi en bu hey expi ed
since he publica ion o he da ase hos ing webpages we e no in English, which made na iga ion impossible. These cases we e conside ed “no
sha ed”. Las ly, i was e alua ed how many da ase s we e used o he benchma king. We classi ied any collec ion o da a based on a cohe en
sampling in a dis inc s udy a ea as da ase .
Appendix A.2: Li e a u e e iew esul s
A majo i y o o e 90 % nei he sha ed he da a no he code (Fig. A1). Howe e , many s udies (48 %) included a s a emen on he da a a ailabili y
wi h willingness o p o ide da a on eques . In con as , such a s a emen on he a ailabili y o code was almos ne e included apa om a single
excep ion (1 %). This can be explained by he ac ha mos jou nals ask o a s a emen on he a ailabili y o da a bu do no expec his o he code
a ailabili y.
The majo i y o benchma king was conduc ed based on a single da ase (95.5 %) and he maximum numbe o da ase s did no exceed h ee
(Fig. A2). All ma e ials used in he li e a u e e iew a e p o ided a gi hub.com/JonasSchmidinge /LimeSoDa_li e a u e. e iew, wi h addi ional
commen s o bounda y cases.
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Geode ma 459 (2025) 117337
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Fig. A1. Ba plo showing he ela i e equency dis ibu ion on he a ailabili y o da a (a) o code (c) in o he DSM benchma king publica ions om 2023, as well as
he s a emen on da a (b) o code (d) a ailabili y i da ase s we e no sha ed.
Fig. A2. Ba plo showing he ela i e equency dis ibu ion on how many da ase s we e e alua ed in o he DSM benchma king publica ions om 2023.
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