EXPLORING SPATIAL INFORMATION AND ANALYSIS
IN AGRICULTURE
“Site-specific management recognizes the variability within a field and is about doing the right thing, in the right way, at the right place and time”
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION — Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology is revolutionizing industries from retail marketing to forestry. This new way of doing business is based on a new set of map analysis tools that provide insight into spatial relationships. Site-specific management of crops can benefit from these tools by extending soil samples and yield maps beyond “pretty pictures” to critical information that guides farm input distribution and management actions. The intermediate-level workshop describes the basic considerations in assessing spatial relationships within and among mapped data. Prior experience or introductory course in precision agriculture and familiarity with basic statistics is recommended. (Detailed description, Word .doc file)
Note: the workshop usually is
presented in sixteen contact hours (two-day) with instructor demonstrating the
exercises. Workshops involving hands-on
experience of participants are presented in twenty-four contact hours (two and
half days).
PowerPoint Slide Sets – The more than 100 slides introduces map
analysis concepts, procedures and considerations in site-specific agricultural
management. Many of the slides have
embedded links to the companion Precision Farming Primer book, exercises
and other materials for further reference.
(Example slides,
PowerPoint .ppt file)
Map Data Visualization and Summary Preprocessing and Map
Normalization Comparing Maps and
Temporal Analysis
Understanding Spatial
Correlation Interpolating and
Assessing Map Surfaces Integrating Remote
Sensing Data
Day 2
Delineating Management
Zones Clustering Groups of Similar
Data Measuring Correlation Among Maps
Developing Predictive Models Generating Management Action Maps
Note: example slides are best
viewed at full resolution. When viewed
in the Internet Explorer browser, click on
Hands-on Exercises – There are 13 exercises designed for
hands-on experience with the concepts presented in the lecture slides and
linked readings. (Example exercises … click
on the links indicated below)
Ex#1 Visualizing yield data Ex#2
Map normalization Ex#3 Assessing
localized variation
Ex#4 Assessing rate
of change Ex#5 MC display
options Ex#6 MC macro
builder Ex#7 Comparing map surfaces
Ex#8 Spatial
interpolation Ex#9 Data clustering Ex#10
Region- wide summary Ex#11 Calculating map
correlation
Ex#12 Exporting MapCalc data Ex#13 Micro terrain analysis
Background Readings – Direct links are made to the appropriate topics in the Precision Farming Primer e-book accompanying the MapCalc Learner software. (Online Precision Farming Primer book)