Central To Everything and Close to Nothing | JDEEREMAN - 3/30/2008 12:02 I know a hilly, square 1/2 mile has more square feet in it than does a flat square half mile. That said, is your land hilly ? The FSA maps only measure on the flat. Also, does the GPS measure the tilts and pitch of the tractor and add those extra acres to the total ? You really have to have hilly land, like 60-100' of elevation change with multiple high spots to realize any increase in surface area from a flat piece of land (and if you are trying to farm it, you probably should have animals on it instead!!). I have done this analysis a few times for customers and in every case the increase in surface area compared to the 2D calulation was less than 1%. In the area where I was doing this, at the bottom of every hill was a slough so whatever gains in surface area there was in the land, it was negated by the body of water at the bottom of the hill!! |
some things I've noticed since started using GPS
