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
1.5 Tiny Bytes: Check Out GK Technology's Imagery Library
Jodi and Sarah talk about what's available in GK Technology's expansive imagery library. The library offers subscribers access to Landsat, Sentinel, NAIP, and Lidar data layers.
They discuss further...
• Significance of multi-layer data in agriculture
• GK Technology's robust imagery library
• Different types of imagery available and their resolutions
• Importance of ongoing updates to data for accuracy
• Discussion on the geographical coverage of data
• Emphasis on accessible resources for all agricultural practitioners
Access data layers easier and faster with GK Technology's imagery library!
Resources on accessing and downloading publicly available GIS data:
https://gktechinc.com/data-links/
ADMS: https://gktechinc.com/adms-product/
And now it's time for a tiny bite of knowledge.
Jodi Boe:You know, Sarah, I finally got some yield data for a field, but I've listened to tiny bites and I keep hearing that I shouldn't just use one layer to make a zone map. But cool, I want imagery. Where can I go to find imagery? And where can I go to find elevation data? I don't have RTK on my tractor. Is this something that I can just look one place and like a one-stop shop to find all this stuff? Because I don't even know where to start to find these different layers?
Sarah Lovas:Boy. Jodi, do I have a deal for you? You can check that imagery right out of the GK imagery library. Did you know that GK technology has an extremely robust imagery library available? Has an extremely robust imagery library available. We actually have data compiled all in one spot. Actually, in Halstead we have a server room that is a petabyte worth of storage in there, which, for those listening, is like a thousand terabytes. It's a lot of data that's in there.
Jodi Boe:We've got all that data. What exactly is contained in that petabyte of storage?
Sarah Lovas:We have four major categories of data that we've got stored on our servers. We've got Landsat imagery, which is a US satellite logging 30-meter resolution In our library storage. We actually have that data from the 1980s up until about 2021. We also have imagery data that comes from the Sentinel satellites, which is the Sentinel 2A and 2B satellites. Those are satellites that are flown by the European Space Agency. That imagery is 10-meter resolution data and it was flown from 2015 2015 until present and we continue to actively add to that library.
Sarah Lovas:We also have NAEP imagery that stands for National Agriculture Imagery Program. These are images that you, you know, you go to the FSA office and you certify your farm every year from the Farm Service Agency. Those are those images. They've been geo-referenced and they are available for our use. We update those in multiple states all over the place. We also have elevation data, which is LIDAR data. Generally, lidar data is operated and stewarded by individual states and the availability of LIDAR data does vary across the nation. But if there is LIDAR available in an area, we will do our best to make sure that we get that onto the servers. So generally, we have two forms of satellite imagery one form of just detailed imagery and also elevation data, the satellites, just to recap Landsat data 30 meter resolution, sentinel data 10 meter resolution, lidar data for elevation and NAEP imagery. Those are the maps that you generally certify off of very detailed images.
Jodi Boe:One thing to note with this, too, is that this data that we're putting up, almost all the data that's on the GK library is publicly available. So if you wanted to create your own library, you most certainly could do that, and if you go to the GK website, if you go to gktechnccom and go to our page that's got data links on it you'll be able to find instructions for how to access and download all of that too. I will say we do offer this as a service because it is so handy and nifty to be able to be. You know, you've got a field boundary in 8MS and you say, okay, I want to pull in imagery for this and I want to pull in LIDAR. It is so nifty to just say, okay, bring me to the catalog tab and find me the images that are within this boundary. So we do offer that.
Sarah Lovas:Of course, again, there's the option you can download it yourself, but you can save yourself a lot of time and building and organizing that by getting access to the GK technology library and we do have customers that currently actually they use a lower level of software from us and they make their own imagery library. But we also have a number of growers out there that are in the consultants package. If you get the consultants package, that's where you will get access to our imagery library and everybody absolutely that uses it loves it because it's just there, ready to go. Boom, click, there's your images. It's really great.
Jodi Boe:It's super handy and on top of that too, I mean we have Kendra down in South Dakota who's updating the imagery from Sentinel throughout the growing season and pulling in those new satellite images as they become available.
Jodi Boe:So it's not like the image is coming off the satellite and it's in the library, but it's pretty close to that. So instead of you having to sit down and do that yourself, we do that for you with this access and right now, for the area that we cover. We actually cover quite a bit of ground with our libraries right now and what we've got data for. So we have in total for the United States, we've got coverage of at least some data for 38 states. If there are crops grown there, there's a very, very good chance that we've got imagery for it. More importantly, too, if you're somebody that's listening in Alaska and you're like, hey, I want to do some zone mapping and I'm really interested in getting access to your library of data inputs, we can most certainly look for what's publicly available for Alaska and pull that into our catalog. So just let us know if you're not currently covered by what we've got and we'll work on making sure that we get what we can for that area you're working in.
Sarah Lovas:We put data in our servers on a demand basis. So if you're a customer that's in a place where we currently don't have data available and you request it and you want to do business with us, we will make sure that that becomes available for you and very happily do that. We also have a coverage up in Canada, actually quite a bit. We've got Alberta, manitoba and Saskatchewan. That's covered. We also have Sentinel data available in Ontario as well. Absolutely.
Jodi Boe:I mean, the beautiful thing about getting imagery from satellites is that they pretty much cover the globe, and so for Sentinel and for Landsat, they pretty much cover the globe. And so for Sentinel and for Landsat, we can take a look back at what the satellites have captured for imagery and we can pull that into the software. If you're listening to this podcast in I don't know, gambia or like Rome, and you're like, hey, I really want some Sentinel imagery to look at and use, if you're using the ADMS software, we're happy to pull that in for you too.
Sarah Lovas:If you are in Puerto Rico and South Africa, we actually do have some Landsat data in there for you as well to check out, so it's very fun. It makes data very accessible, so you can really actively do precision agriculture and good precision agriculture, using more than one layer of data. Well, jodi, I don't know about you, but I think I should go to the image library and check out an image.
Jodi Boe:And the best part, Sarah, is that there's no due dates.
Sarah Lovas:There's no due dates.
Jodi Boe:Tune in next time for a tiny bite of knowledge from GK Technology, where we have a map and an app for that.
Sarah Lovas:The best part about the image library is that it really isn't a book, it's an image. You don't have to bring it back, you don't have to return it no late fees and you can. You don't have to use your back, you don't have to return it no late fees and you don't have to use your library voice while you're checking out the image library and you don't even have to read, you can just look.
Jodi Boe:It's like a picture book. It's no effort, but it's like a bunch of fine Waldo books and you got to figure out which ones you want to keep.
Sarah Lovas:Good talk, we should start an image library book club.