Ag Geek Speak
GK Technology Inc Team Members, Jodi Boe and Sarah Lovas talk about precision agriculture, agriculture mapping, agronomy and drainage.
Ag Geek Speak
21.5 Tiny Bytes: Exporting Prescriptions
It is one thing to have a variable rate map. It is another to have a variable rate map on a controller. In this episode of Tiny Bytes, we dive into the basics of exporting prescriptions.
In this episode, we talk polygons, polygon count limits, vertices, and file size constraints. Whether you're working with modern systems or legacy equipment, this episode equips you with the basics to help you better understand the prescription making process.
GK Technology supports farmers by bridging the gap between cutting-edge tech and older equipment, ensuring prescriptions are accurately applied across diverse setups. If you’re looking to master the art of precision ag exporting, this episode is packed with invaluable insights to make your beautiful maps work.
Tiny Byte Shapefile Episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2297340/episodes/15807779
And now it's time for a tiny bite of knowledge. Hey Sarah, I finally got back my soil test reports and I know exactly how much slime I want to apply on my field and I've written up a beautiful prescription for this field with a non-treated control. I'm so excited, but what the heck do I do now?
Sarah:Export the prescription. It is time to export that prescription. And yes, odi, you can write the absolute most beautiful prescription map on the face of the planet, but you actually have to export that prescription. And yes, jodi, you can write the absolute most beautiful prescription map on the face of the planet, but you actually have to get that prescription into the controller and the tractor or the fertilizer spreader, the applicator, planter, whatever it actually has to get into that computer so that computer can understand the information and make the application actually occur. And there is no two controllers that act the same. Isn't that great? It's something. Let me tell you what. Today we're going to talk about exporting prescriptions, and there are a lot of different ways to export out prescriptions. Keep in mind most frequently what we are talking about for a file format when we are exporting prescriptions is a shapefile format. But there are other export file types that are out there. Some of the older controllers actually took TIFFs. That was actually a really nice way. That was an image export. Actually it was very nice.
Jodi:Also XMLs, but by far and away today, I'd say, the most common file export that we are dealing with is a shapefile and if you want to know more about shapefiles, about all the different files that are included inside of a shapefile, we do have a tiny bytes episode about that, so go back into the Tiny Byte files and check it out.
Jodi:But that is again what Sarah mentioned, the most common type of file that we're going to send out to a rate controller these days. All right, so Sarah mentioned to no two controllers in tractors these days really act the same, and so what we're trying to do with a prescription and exporting the prescription is basically translating that prescription we've written in ADMS or a different software, a different precision ag software, and translate it into the language of what that controller understands. And so it's one thing to have a really nice map on your computer, but it's a completely other thing for that map to be readable by the rate controller that you're trying to use out in the field. And so this is really where the rubber meets the road taking our ideas and our VRT prescriptions and whatever we want to do in terms of our maps and actually getting it out there and having it applied when we are exporting out that prescription as a shapefile.
Sarah:We're going to talk about shapefile exports today primarily. There are a number of different things that you need to consider and, as always, I think this is a really important place to let everybody know that Darin Johnson has been writing software and getting prescriptions out to controllers and successfully making them work since the late 90s. As a matter of fact, that guy actually made prescriptions work on fertilizer spreaders before GPS was on those things, so we do have some historical knowledge about making sure that prescriptions can work.
Jodi:And those spreaders are still out there. I think both Sarah and I exported out prescriptions to Falcon IIs this year.
Sarah:That is correct. We can still export to that Falcon II. So just be aware of that. I mean, there are farmers in some places out there where they go and buy their own spreaders. They're used and it works great for their purposes. But yes, we have the capability of exporting to those older controllers, but we can also export up to the most modern that are on the market today as well. So lots of opportunities there. But there's some things within those shape files that we need to be thinking about to have a successful export to those different controllers.
Jodi:I think the first step in all of this is, when you're writing that prescription, make sure you know exactly what controller you're exporting to. That was the first thing for me getting into this space. You know, not coming from a precision ag background, I just completely forgot that I need to know exactly what controller I'm exporting to. That way I know what some of these requirements that we're going to talk about have to be.
Sarah:Absolutely. That is really critical because I need to speak that language that that controller is going to understand. When we are thinking about each controller individually, there's different parameters that they will have and accept. Let's talk about polygon count. First of all. What is a polygon? So a polygon, simply put on a shapefile, it is the way that we partition out the area of the field where a certain rate is going to be applied. So, for example, sometimes we actually create a grid across a prescription and then within that grid, in the center of that grid, we're going to assign a rate in there and that's going to be the rate that gets applied in that square, in that grid. And those grids will be different sizes, oftentimes six meters, seven meters, eight meters, someplace in that. 6 to 10 meters is a lot of times where we end up having those grids. However, we can also partition out a field based on the rate. So, in other words, we will tell the shapefile to take a look at all of the rates that are 100 pounds and consider that to be one polygon or 2. The next rate, 120 pounds, that would be the next polygon.
Sarah:Generally, different controllers can handle different numbers of polygons. There are a lot of controllers out there that handle 10,000 polygons. As a hard and fast rule, we're trying to keep everybody down below that. I am aware of some instances where controllers can handle more than 10,000 polygons and handle more detail, but as a general rule that's going to be a really good number. And it's also important to understand that there are some controllers out there that can only handle twenty, five hundred or fifteen hundred polygons and if you go over that polygon count, that controller is not going to be able to handle that prescription. So you have to know how many polygons your controller can handle.
Jodi:Absolutely. These are the points where, if we're trying to reduce polygon count and when you're exporting a prescription, you should always be able to see what that polygon count is Like. We've talked about already. Different controllers have different requirements. Not only do we have to be cognizant of polygon count, but we also need to remember that we may have limits on how big that file can be. Different controllers have different file size limitations, so limits on how big that file can be. Different controllers have different file size limitations. So when we are exporting a shape file, we want to make sure that we are keeping the file size to a level that the rate controller can handle. Know what your rate controller is, know what the maximum size it can be and just remember, if you've got more polygons, if you've got finer detail in that prescription, most likely you're going to have a larger file size. So keep that in mind. And if you've got to reduce that file size, you're going to have to make the prescription less detailed so that you can meet that file size requirement.
Sarah:To that point about file size and polygon count. That actually leads into another very interesting thing, dealing with the number of vertices out there. Anytime we're dealing with polygons. All polygons are literally lines connected by vertices. If there are large numbers of vertices, that can create some issues with some controllers as well. This is a new one that I kind of ran into in the last couple years. Keep in mind that as you're trying to manage the polygon count, especially if you're trying to reduce that polygon count, if you've got a lot of curves in your polygons, you're going to end up with a lot of vertices and that vertice count can get pretty big for some controllers and also increase the size of the file. So it's one of those things to just kind of keep an eye on.
Jodi:Yeah. So like the point being here is that, say, if you go ahead and you dissolve the output so that you've got your different rates into the same polygon, you may have reduced your polygon count but that again those curves, every time that line changes direction you're adding vertices and that vertices is going to contribute to overall file size. So even though you may have reduced your polygon count, it doesn't mean that you've necessarily reduced the file size enough to get to your controller. So just keep that in mind that vertices are data points and they do add to the overall file size as well.
Sarah:And I actually have heard of controllers when they receive a prescription that has too many vertices in it, actually produce an error that says we cannot read this. It has too many vertices. Actually produce an error that says we cannot read this. It has too many vertices.
Jodi:It's not fun. The error is not. Another thing we have to consider when we're exporting these prescriptions to is how many rates the controller can actually handle. Some controllers can handle a lot more rates than others. Some can handle maybe like 255 rates or 175. Some can handle infinite rates. Just make sure you know what your controller is and what the limitations are going to be for that controller.
Sarah:Every controller seems to take a little different file structure. Sometimes you need to put that shapefile in a folder name something very specific inside another folder name something very specific. Sometimes it needs to be on the root of the USB stick.
Jodi:What does that mean when you say it needs to be on the root of the USB stick?
Sarah:That is a great question because we get that all the time. The root of the USB stick is meaning it is not within any folder at all. You have the USB stick in there and it is right there on the USB stick, no folders involved. But it is really important to know exactly what that special wording is, where all the little or the capital letters are in that file structure, if it needs to be within that file structure.
Sarah:I think it's interesting when we think about field size and when we think about exporting out prescriptions to different field sizes. Certainly, as you go east in the United States we end up with some smaller field sizes and as you go west to western North Dakota, Montana, Saskatchewan, we get really big field sizes. You know a section, two sections, and those prescriptions for those fields are huge, acreage wise. So it's very easy to have one file for that file size to be huge in and to itself. Working with those controllers to get that prescription to be effective can be challenging simply due to the size of the field. Making sure we're watching the polygon count, the vertex count, the file size, all of that for those bigger fields it can get to be pretty challenging and sometimes we have to do some different things, little tricks to kind of make that work on those bigger fields.
Jodi:One of the benefits of working with GK Technology is that, so say, if you're trying to export something, and in ADMS specifically, and you're like I can't get this to work or it's, I've tried to send it out to the rate controller and it just isn't working. Well, the beautiful thing about working with GK is that we've got people on staff that have been working with these controllers since before. They were even in ag right, like, as Sarah mentioned before, darren's been exporting to controllers before GPS was around. We have really knowledgeable staff that can help you walk through and troubleshoot some of these issues with exporting, because it's not always cut and dry. But there's some things that we can do to help you in ADMS. There's some things that we can do that can make it so that you can actually take the prescription you want and get it applied in the field.
Sarah:And that is a really great place to end this podcast Export out.
Jodi:Tune in next time for a tiny bite of knowledge from GK Technology, where we have a map and an app for that.