New soil maps of the continents, scale 1:25M and the development of small-scale soil mapping

New soil maps of the continents, scale 1 : 25M (1 : 10M for Europe) have been compiled for a geographic electronic atlas ''Man and Earth.'' The maps have a common list of soil units. Practically, a new world soil map, scale 1 : 25M, has been compiled. As compared to the existing soil maps, including those of larger scales, it has the highest number of legend units, 178, while the FAO-UNESCO map has 102 (sc. 1 : 5M) and the Soil Map for School of Higher Education 105 (sc. 1 : 15M). Corrections in the world soil cover pattern have been introduced, basically, for the humid and subhumid tropics of Africa and South America, temperate areas in Europe, and subarid Asia. A brief analysis of small-scale soil mapping over the last decades is presented in the article; its problems and objectives are discussed, as well as the contribution of I.P. Gerasimov to this field of soil science.