Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

40 (2003) 45 /55 www.elsevier.com/locate/compag

The role of GIS and GPS in precision farming

M. Neményi *, P.Á. Mesterházi, Zs. Pecze, Zs. Stépán
Institute of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Engineering, University of West Hungary, H-9200
Mosonmagyaróvár, Vár 2, Hungary

Abstract

Examinations in connection with site-specific farming have been carried out by our institute
since 1998. Precision farming is a way of agricultural production, which takes into account the
in-field variability, a technology where the application-seeding, nutrient replacement,
spraying, etc. has taken place to act on the local circumstances of a given field. The
geographic information system (GIS) created by computing background makes possible to
generate complex view about our fields and to make valid agrotechnological decisions. Our
goal was to compare two systems for marking out further research tasks, because in some
cases there have been misunderstandings among the researchers, and the information provided
by given companies seems to be complicated for potential users (farmers).
# 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Global positioning system; Data handling system; Data processing; Data transmission;
Computer application

1. Introduction

Nowadays environment protection is more and more in focus. This tendency can
be observed in case of agriculture because the direct or indirect human healthy food
consumption is especially emphasised. The question of economy is also important.
In West Europe and USA, the precision plant production system, which takes into
consideration the in-field variability, is well known and getting more and more
popular. At the same time, the research achievements have very poor reliability
under practical circumstances. In many cases, what in the user’s guide is described,
can be accomplished only by means of considerable service background or rather

* Corresponding author. Tel.:
/36-96-215-911; fax:
/36-96-215-209.

E-mail address: nemenyim@mtk.nyme.hu (M. Neményi).

0168-1699/03/$ - see front matter # 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0168-1699(03)00010-3
46 M. Neményi et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 40 (2003) 45 /55

with the presence and supervision of a professional scientific staff. Consequently, in

practical respects so many of these systems are immature. On the other hand,
databases recorded by different systems do not communicate each other. It is not
ensured for the user to choose the implement which is, for him, the most prosperous.
An increasing attention for this technology is present in Hungary (Mesterházi et al.,
2001; Neményi et al., 2001, 2002; Pecze et al., 2001a,b).
Precision farming is a way of farming which takes into account the in-field
variability, a technology where the application-seeding, nutrient replacement,
spraying, etc. has taken place to act on the local circumstances of a given field.
The global positioning system (GPS) makes possible to record the in-field
variability as geographically encoded data. It is possible to determine and record
the correct position continuously. This technology considers the agricultural areas,
fields more detailed than previously, therefore, a larger database is available for the
user. For storing and handling these data, the application of a geographic
information system (GIS) is essential. The GIS created by computing background
makes possible to generate complex view about our fields and to make valid
agrotechnological decisions (Pecze, 2001). Using this technology, it is possible to
provide the optimal or near-optimal nutrient (Csizmazia, 1993) and chemical
(László, 1992; Mesterházi et al., 2001) amount and proper cultivation for each
part of the field (Jóri and Erbach, 1998). Consequently, we can be able to save
money and prevent the environmental pollution caused by the leaching out of the
nutrient and the overuse of chemicals (Pecze et al., 2001a,b). Examinations in
connection with site-specific farming have been done by the Institute of Agricultural,
Food and Environmental Engineering for some years. One of the main goals of this
study is to summarise the problems, which are to be solved. To attain this
technology, there are several systems in the market; however, at present their
reliability is hardly known by the users even by researchers in Hungary and abroad
as well (Neményi et al., 2001, 2002; Pecze et al., 1999).

2. Theoretical and practical backgrounds of the site-specific experiments

2.1. Description and circumstances of the experimental field

The experimental field is situated next to Ács (Komárom-Esztergom county), its

topographical number is 0419/18-27, its area is 32.5 ha. The field shows variability in
connection with relief as well, there is a 10 m level difference.
The investigations were carried out in 1999 and 2000 after the pre-investigations in
1998. The examined plant was maize (Dekalb 443 and 391 hybrids). The applied
fertiliser is ammonium nitrate (34%). The harvest took place on 26/27 October 1999
and 9/13 October 2000, respectively.
 M. Neményi et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 40 (2003) 45 /55 47

2.2. Fertilisation model

Further role of our research activity was to establish the application of artificial
intelligence in agriculture. In this interest, we examined the development possibilities
in case of the connection among nutrient-replacement models and site-specific
databases.
Naturally, several philosophical questions arise. Among others, the question
whether describe the plant growing and development with neutral network or models
based on the law of natural science and involving stochastic elements. To answer this
question is not the task of this paper. At the moment, simple and complex plant
growth and development models, which take into account almost every factor, are
present at the market. We applied a simplified nutrient replacement (advisory) model
developed by Research Institute for Soil and Agricultural Chemistry of the
Hungarian Academy of Sciences (RISSAC-RIA). It was used to characterise more
than 500 000 ha in recent years. Various categories were established within individual
soil types (groups) to indicate the soil fertility level. In this system, the amount of
nutrients to be applied for a growing season are calculated on the basis of the
relationship of the soil nutrient supply versus plant nutrient demand.
The basic philosophy of the model is the following:

efforts for economic level;

the aim is ‘‘plant nutrition’’ (do not accumulate store in the soil);
to achieve and sustain moderate soil PK supply;
slow soil PK build-up;
PK fertilisation of the rotation;
PK fertilisation only at moderate or poor soil supply levels;
lower limit values for soil nutrient supply categories;
lower specific crop nutrient contents;
specific crop nutrient contents dependent of the planned yield level (because of the
nutrient dilution-effect in crops);
mineral soil N-content is taken into consideration only in the case of the most
important crops (Csathó et al., 1998).

The system takes into account the following:

plant type;
planned yield (t/ha);
the way of cultivation (mono-culture or rotation);
soil type and date of soil sampling;
soil properties: soil constraint (KA); humus%; CaCO3%; pHKCl; Al /P2O5 (mg/kg);
Al /K2O5 (mg/kg); MgKCl; EDTA /Zn; EDTA /Cu; EDTA /Mn; B; and total
salt%.

Modifying factors:
48 M. Neményi et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 40 (2003) 45 /55

manure (in 3/4 years);

quality and quantity (t/ha), effect (1 /4 years);
liquid manure (in 2 years);
quality and quantity (m3/ha), effect (1 /2 years);
perennial forecrop leguminous (in 2 years);
previous liming (in 6 /10 years);
previous Zn fertilising (in 4 /6 years);
forecrop type: main yield of forecrop, t/ha; secondary yield of forecrop, t/ha;
destiny of secondary yield of forecrop (ploughed under or not); and harvest date
of forecrop (before or after 15 September).

Another question is how to apply this augmenting database to refine and develop
the functioning of plant growth and development models, e.g. by means of neural
networks.

2.3. Informatics and GIS background

Our GIS’s fundamentals are the ArcView-based AGRO-Map Professional v.3.0

and the MapInfo v. 6.0 software. The board computer mounted on the harvester
(Deutz Fahr M 35.80), on the soil sampler unit, and on the applicator machine
(AMAZONE ZA-M Max Tronic fertiliser spreader). The software installed on the
computer also is the part of this system. The coordinates and the attributum data
(yield, soil physical and chemical properties, fertiliser amounts, etc.) are linked by the
board computer. During the data gathering (yield mapping and soil sampling), the
RDS and the Agrocom systems were used. For the visualisation of the collected data,
the same systems’ software was used designed for GIS applications. For data
transfer, floppy disk and PCMCIA card were applied.

2.4. Information collected from primary and secondary data gathering methods

Two types of data collection were used:

Data gathered by primary method:

/ field contour;
/ yield map;
/ soil-supported maps;
/ digital relief map;
/ 1:4000 black and white airborne picture;
/ 1:10 000 black and white airborne picture and the scanned digitised form of it.
Data gathered by secondary method:
/ 1:10 000 genetic soil map with the lab data and explanation text;
/ 1:10 000 and 1:4000 land use map;
/ 1:10 000 scanned digitised topographic map;
/ field register book.
 M. Neményi et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 40 (2003) 45 /55 49

3. Results

3.1. Yield maps

Data are recorded in regular ASCII format. After the data imported from the
floppy disc (RDS system) into the personal computer, the picture with the harvest
route map was created as row data.
Following this, using the geographical encoded data recorded in each 3 min, the
interpolated yield map shows the in-field variability (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Yield map (RDS, 1999 and 2000), the histogram shows the distribution of the yield categories.
50 M. Neményi et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 40 (2003) 45 /55

3.2. Soil maps and digital relief model

After grid soil sampling (1999) and the analysis, the MapInfo Professional
program was applied for the visualisation. The point allocation (2000) was carried
out by means of soil sampling plan generated by the AGRO-MAP Basic program.
After the soil analysis, the soil maps were created from the soil nutrient content
properties as attributum data connected with the sample points (Kriging method).
For the build-up of the relief model, the coordinate data of the RDS PF data basis
were used (Fig. 2).

3.3. Processing of data collected by secondary method

The 1:10 000 land use map in paper is secured from the Region Land Office,
Komárom. After scanning and knowing the co-ordinates of the field borderline, four
points with known co-ordinates were identified in the map by means of a program
called Wgeo. By doing this, a twf file */a file belongs to the tif file */was generated.
The AGRO-MAP Professional software has the transformation equation, which is
required for the transformation from WGS 84 GPS co-ordinates to EOV (uniform
nation-wide projection system), thus the borderline co-ordinates recorded by GPS
could be handled in the EOV system. The database of the map with tef extension was
imported into the AGRO-MAP Professional program and the field borderline could
be inserted in the map as a new layer (Fig. 3).
The 1:10 000 topographic map is obtained from the Institute of Geodesy,
Cartography and Remote Sensing, Budapest. This map imported into the AGRO-
MAP Professional software composes an additional layer about the given field (Fig.
4).

Fig. 2. The digital relief model of the field.

 M. Neményi et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 40 (2003) 45 /55 51

Fig. 3. Land use map with the field borderline (AGRO-MAP Professional) (the investigated area is dark-
grey).

Fig. 4. The topographic map with the field borderline (AGRO-MAP Professional).
52 M. Neményi et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 40 (2003) 45 /55

The 1:10 000 scanned digitised black and white airborne picture origins from the
Institute of Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing, Budapest. By means of the
Wgeo program, a new layer was created from that in the same way like in the case of
land use map (Fig. 5). The database could be completed with genetic soil maps and
other information origin from remote sensing.

3.4. Comparison of the RDS and Agrocom ACT systems

Our experiences draw the attention to the fact that despite the standardisation
efforts, the data from the GIS software for agricultural applications cannot be
imported by simple conversion into the widely applied topographic programs
(ArcView, ArcInfo, MapInfo, etc.).
Two precision farming systems (RDS and Agrocom ACT) were used and both of
them have advantages and disadvantages.
In case of the RDS system, despite other parameters are also recorded, only yield
map can be created by the RDS PF software. Other gathered site-specific data */
such as the moisture content and height information */cannot be visualised in the
map form. Neither the row data nor the created map (or given parts of that) can be

Fig. 5. The airborne picture with the field boundary (AGRO-MAP Professional).
 M. Neményi et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 40 (2003) 45 /55 53

divided consequently if two or more fields’ data are recorded in the same file, there is
not a chance to separate them. The statistics consider to the whole area in this case.
The AgroMap Basic provides more possibility for the users. The field borderline
can be drawn manually or the GPS recorded can be applied. The row data can be
edited consequently and it is possible to handle separately the given parts of any
field. By means of this software, moisture content map can be created from the
proper columns of the Agrocom data file.
In case of the Agrocom ACT system, only yield and moisture content data are
recorded but each parameter can be displayed in map form. The RDS system has a
more valuable database but only a little proportion of its full potential can be utilised
because of its software restricted capability. The AgroMap Basic program is a more
developed one, but the Agrocom ACT database consists less information. Because of
these facts and practical reasons (mixed application of different made of machines
and tools), it is required that the different yield monitoring systems be compatible; in
other words, one system should handle the other’s data and vice versa. File and data
formats have been standardised in ISO 11787 (referred as agricultural data
interchange standard */‘ADIS’) and are in use by some manufacturers (Stafford,
2000). By the way, in many cases, just like in our case, this problem of
incompatibility still exists.
Manufacturers (GIS and precision farming software, GPS receivers, and so-called
job computers, which can communicate with the above-mentioned components) are
not interested in the compatibility among different made of systems, what makes
difficult or even impossible to compare the usability and accuracy of certain models.

3.5. Agrocom data import into the RDS PF software

External data can be imported into the RDS PF software. One of the importable
data formats is the Claas yield data format. However, the row data file (with ‘‘gpc’’
extension) recorded by the Agrocom ACT system cannot be directly imported. Only
the file with ‘‘aft’’ extension (which is resulted from the import of the ‘‘gpc’’ file into
the AgoMap Basic) can be read into the RDS software. It means that the AgroMap
Basic is also required for this process.

3.6. RDS data import into the AgroMap Basic software

This kind of transport has a bigger importance because the RDS database consists
of more site-specific information while the AgroMap Basic provides more mapping
possibilities. By the way, the RDS row yield file cannot be directly loaded or
imported into the AgroMap Basic program. The solution is a txt file, which contains
the given parts of the RDS file. For the creation of this file, the knowledge of the
RDS file structure is required. In the txt file some columns’ data have to be edited by
value place and a header must be created, which consists the title of each column.
After that the txt file can be chosen in the AgroMap Basic’s import menu and the
custom import procedure can be applied. The information of the file can be reflected
as row data map and it is possible to save it with ‘‘aft’’ extension. With this it can be
54 M. Neményi et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 40 (2003) 45 /55

handled as the AgroMap Basic’s own row data and because it contains not only the
yield and moisture but the height data as well a more complex view of the field can
be generated by means of this process. And on the other hand, it is also the key for
using data origin from different sources and for applying different made of machines
and precision farming systems together.
By this method, the problem of creating correct yield maps from given parts of any
field can be solved as well. In the RDS PF software, there is no chance to edit the
row data, but these data can be loaded into the AgroMap Basic software by means
of the above-mentioned process, and the RDS data can be edited even as it would be
the Agrocom system’s own data. The statistics correspond only to the selected part
of the field in this case.
The point of this data transport is that it makes possible the co-application of
different made of precision farming systems (e.g. the combine harvester equipped
with RDS system, while the fertiliser distributor controlled by the Agrocom ACT
system) while we can take the advantage of each one. The user’s guides of the
systems provide no information about this kind of data transport possibility.
Whereas the following problems also exist in case of the GIS software for
agricultural application:

The grid which can be laid down on the map of the field cannot be turned during
the creation of any kind of map; therefore, it is impossible to make the grid lines
parallel with the borderlines. Therefore, the fitting is not perfect that causes
problems during the application as well (Agrocom system).
The accurate yield data can be reported only in the points where GPS position
recording has happened. In any other case, information is provided in intervals
with 1 t/ha steps.
During fertiliser application, the ACT unit mounted in the cab of the tractor
showed the position of the machine but did not provide directional guidance in
spite of the fact that the working width was pre-programmed. There are different
solutions for this problem in the market, but this must be compatible with the
given precision farming system. These tools are acceptable only if they do not
require distinct DGPS signal, which would increase the application cost.
Further problems were caused by that the ACT does not show the already
distributed fertiliser strip in the field. This increases the chance of fertilising the
same spot twice as well as making accurate overlapping difficult.

During the development of GIS, our aim is to procreate the compatibility among
the export/import surfaces in other words the connection among the data from
different sources.

4. Conclusions

It can be unequivocally stated that the yield pattern shows a more equalised
picture after the site-specific fertiliser distribution based on the RISSAC-RIA model
 M. Neményi et al. / Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 40 (2003) 45 /55 55

(Fig. 1). It means that each part of the field (the management units) can be well
handled, in this way the applied fertiliser has a bigger efficiency. Its ecological and
economic respects are well known. Our inspection till now makes possible to increase
the accuracy of the RISSAC-RIA model.
The compatibility of the applied systems can be called into being. Due to the
mentioned solution, the RDS measured yield variability can be handled even by
means of the Agrocom ACT system, the possibility of mixed application is
guaranteed from this point of view. Using the same procedure, the collected data
can be loaded into other computer programs too.
The mentioned method has an additional advantage. This advantage is that the
Agrocom ACT system involves an ArcView-based GIS application called AgroMap
Professional, which has the capability to receive objects from the AgroMap Basic.
Using this software, it is possible to insert our precision farming data into any
ArcView compatible GIS. By means of our solution now the RDS gathered
information also could be managed in the same way.

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