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)

Day 1

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  pop-up in lower-right corner of an image to switch to full resolution.

 

 

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)