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Southeast MN | This is all new to me and wonder if it can be done. If this works out, I could be in business for about $600.
Right now, I run with foam on my sprayer but have been looking into mapping and guidance systems because I get lost in the foam on point rows and odd shaped fields. Most of my spraying is running with the old crop rows and I need to be able to get on the correct set of rows. Just a few years ago, mapping and guidance was in the $3500 range and I can't make myself spend that much on my size of operation. My thoughts are to use a low end gps to help me find the correct foam. If I look at the map on the laptop and the steering direction to get me close to next set of rows to go down and then use the foam to get on the right row. I'm probably going about this bassackwards, but don't want to spend 1-2k on a "better" receiver.
If it matters, the equipment I use is a 15 foot planter and 45 foot sprayer. If this works out well, I may spread fertilizer myself with a 50 foot spreader. A crippled laptop came my way, for free, and got it working now, farmergps trial software has been installed to get some mapping and guidance experience with a $70 garmin 18 pc, 1hz receiver. How much better will the 5 hz garmin 18 guidance be? This costs about $150, and I'll use the cords from the 1hz unit to connect it to the laptop.
The other requirement is to take the FSA pictures and draw new field layouts in some program to make a shape file to transfer to the farmergps guidance. What software will do this for me? Trial versions are ok, but freeware is better.
I am trying to teach myself how to use ArcGIS Explorer but can't get the world map to show up....actually I don't have a clue what I'm doing with it. I have the NAIP photo maps downloaded from FSA and can't get those graphics to come into ArcExplorer, I can view the .sid file with internet explorer and the gps coordinates show up in that. The rectangles did show up in farmergps but not the field images. Do I have to register to be able to see maps?
I hope you can make sense out of this because I'm not sure if I know enough to ask the questions correctly. Thanks.
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 kron-1000.jpg (98KB - 226 downloads)
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Mapping and guidance on a shoestring budget.
