The World Wide Web, a highly visual environment, provides an ideal medium for exploiting the spatial nature of geographically distributed natural phenomena that are easily represented using maps. The explosion of GIS technology in the 80's and 90's and the growing ubiquity of the Web in the past decade has produced a wide range of tools and approaches for successfully accessing and exploring spatial information resources. This project will develop an interactive mapping application to query and display the extent of soil series concepts held collectively in the USDA-NRCS SSURGO 2.1 database in combination with modern soil taxonomy standards found in the Soil Classification File and the Official Series Description database. The resulting map-based interface provides a geographic context to information currently provided only in tabular and text format. The geographic expression enhances the understanding of soil series concepts and soil taxonomy in relation to the natural divisions of the physical land resources of the United States. The interface provides a low-overhead, easily manageable environment for soil science professionals who need rapid access to soil information resources for management decisions. The interface is available for further exploration and viewing at www.cei.psu.edu/osdtool