Organizing your farm information

From Wikiagro.com

This is a key part of making efficient use of your farm information. GeoAgro GIS organizes information, based on three concepts: Projects/subprojects, Groups and layers, and standard data structures.

Contents 1 Projects & subprojects 2 Layers & groups 3 Data Structures 3.1 Importance of working with data structures 3.2 Predefined structures vs. customized structures 3.3 Examples 3.3.1 Conservation planning 3.3.2 Variable rate

Projects & subprojects

Projects are aggregations of layers for  a common purpose and area of interest. Typically, it would be a farm, but you can choose different ways of organizing it. Projects can include subprojects, so you have differerent options to organize your information, according to your preferences. For instance:

By Farm and Crop season

- Project: FarmABC
- Subprojects: one Subproject per  Crop Season (e.g.: 2009,  2010, etc)

By Farm and Crop type
- Project: FarmABC
- Subprojects: One subproject per Crop type (e.g.: Corn, Soybean, Wheat, etc.)  un subproyecto por Cultivo (por ejemplo Maíz, Soja, Trigo, etc.)

By Farm and Field

- Project: FarmABC
- Subprojects: One subproject per Field (e.g.: Field01, Field02, Field03, etc.)

For more information on managing Projects and subprojects, please review the Projects panel in more detail

Layers & groups

Layers are used to display overlapping maps in GeoAgro GIS. Each layer represents farm features and specifies how they are represented using symbols and labels. 

Layers are displayed in a particular order on the References Panel, the ones listed at the top are displayed first, followed by the layers below them.

Groups are used to aggregate layers based on common type of information or properties, they are both a way to quickly turn on and off several layers and the means to organize information based on importance for the task being carried out.

For more information on managing Layers and Group of layers, please review this information in more detail:

• Managing Layers
• Managing Groups of Layers

 

Data Structures

GeoAgro GIS allows working with data structures, associated to a Farm GIS project. These structures store the associated information to each of the objects contained in a layer.

Importance of working with data structures

The main benefits of working with structures are:

• Standardize how information is stored: frequently, information can come from different sources; thus, it's necessary to adapt it to a common structure, to be able to analyze it correctly. For instance, yield monitor information will have different data structures according to the type of yield monitor, configuration of the monitor software, etc. This data can be standardized in a single yield point data structure in GeoAgro GIS.
• Unify working criteria: the definition of a common structure implies a consensus within the team about which information is needed to be stored, so the entire group will work with the same information.
• Enabling correlations between different layers and comparisons between years: if the information of the GIS layers is stored in the adequate structures, it's possible to carry out data analysis combining information from different layers, which we define as Crop Season Analysis. In this type of analysis, it's possible to combine information from yield monitors, management zones, speed of application, or any user-defined attributes.

Please note that every time that a New vector layer is created, a data structure is selected as part of the layer creation. This facilitates following existing standards for the team. For more information visit Create New Vector Layer.

Predefined structures vs. customized structures

When GeoAgro GIS is installed, it automatically brings a set of predefined structures, which were recommended by agronomists for different application areas, such as Conservation Planning or Site Specific Management.

It's recommended to get familiar with this available structures, and gradually adapt them or create new ones, for suiting your team's needs.

For more information on data structures and how to customize them, please review the Structures Manager tool  

Examples

To illustrate the concept of data structures, these are two examples of how they are applied in two different areas of application:

Conservation planning

The figure below shows a structure for Conservation Practices, for instance, it will contain Practice Codes and Names, for reporting to NRCS, or the Applied amount, to name a few columns

Variable rate

Once you've set different zones for site specific management, you can create VRT layers to define input application rates as needed. Then you can send them to  available machinery to apply as prescribed.
The available structure for this purpose is Prescription, which has fields to contain the necesary information.