The James Hutton Institute's soil carbon app is quick and simple to use, and will give you an estimate of the organic matter content of your soil in Scotland – you just need your Android device (which must have a camera and GPS), a spade, and a colour correction card that we will post to you for free on request.
The estimate of your soil carbon is done by analysing your photo and also environmental information for the location of the photo. The analysis of the photo requires a calibration and this is done using a calibration card which we will post to you after you have requested it using the app. When you have received the card you dig the hole, place the card in the hole, take a photo with your phone/tablet and use the app to send us your photo. In less than a minute (depending on your device's connection speed) software at the James Hutton Institute will have analysed your photo and our environmental data for the location at which you took the photo and computed an estimate of the carbon content of your soil and flashed up the result on your screen.