Improving Management Information through Geographic Information

Improving Management Information
o g Geographic
og p
Information
o
o
through
Systems
((GIS)) and Satellite Imagery.
g y
By
y
L. H. White
Sugar Industry Research Institute
ABSTRACT
Application of GIS and Geographic
Positioning Systems (GPS) technology
commenced throughout sections of the
Industry since 2003. The information
acquired has been mainly related to
field boundaries, land area
estimations, road networks, irrigation
canals and drainage routes.
ABSTRACT CONT’D
Direct benefits of this exercise include a
reduction in costs that are normally
associated with project planning,
mapping and land ssurveying.
r e ing
Relatively accurate measurements of
some areas were for the first time
possible, thus facilitating the
determination of the more accurate
tc/ha productivity levels.
ABSTRACT CONT’D
• Constraints which hamper more extensive
use of this technology include a lack of a
properly equipped GIS Department devoted to
serving
g the industryy manned byy adequately
q
y
trained personnel. It is envisioned that
exploration of GIS/GPS technology should in
due course result in improved management
and, as a result, greater productivity.
• Key Words: GIS, Satellite Imagery,
Productivity Irrigation,
Productivity,
Irrigation Drainage,
Drainage Training
INTRODUCTION
• The increasingly competitive market for sugar
coupled with the more recent WTO
pronouncements of massive price reductions
over a five year period create added
challenges for acceptable efficiency in the
production, processing and management of
the sugarcane crop.
INTRODUCTION CONT’D
• This GIS technology was mainly focussed on
Land and Water Management
g
issues.
• Recently however, the focus has been
redirected towards increasing and sustaining
cane production per unit area over the long
term a view expressed by some
term,
representatives of FIJI, in respect of the ACP
countries.
INTRODUCTION CONT’D
The Erdas
Th
E d Viewer
Vi
Software
S f
developed
d l d
for the exclusive viewing of Satellite
imagery was also acquired during this
period. This software was found useful
for designing
g g and layout
y
during
g the
mapping process. It was also used in
conjunction with the IKONOS Satellite
Imagery, figures 1 & 2.
Figure 1: Erdas Viewer Software + Garmin GPS
Figure 2: IKONOS
MATERIALS AND METHODS
• One set of geo - referenced
g y for the entire
IKONOS imagery
island of Jamaica was also
acquired with the assistance of the
Ministry of Land and Environment
and the SIA during 2004,
2004 figure 3.
3
Figure 3 : IKONOS IMAGERY,SPRINGFIELD
SHORT TERM TRAINING
The short term training
g of approximately
pp
y
eight persons in various aspects of GIS
Technology. This spanned areas from the
Introduction to the Management and
Development of a GIS. Introduction to
the ArcMap and ArcView constituted a
part of this training exercise. In - house
Training
a
g for
o tthee use of
o G
GPS
S equipment
equ p e t
was also conducted at Appleton Estate,
figure 4
Figure 4 : GPS Training at Appleton
MATERIALS AND METHODS CONT’D
The layout
y
of the farms under the
Centre Pivot was done using the GPS.
The mapping process resulted in the
shapes, dimensions and areas
belonging to each. There was no need
for adjustments to the areas since the
land was generally flat , figures 5 & 6.
Figure 5 : Centre Pivot Layout
Figure 6: Mapping of Pivot Farmers Boundaries
MAP EDITING & SCALING
The scanning of these drawings
followed by a transformation with
TRACEART facilitated editing
using AutoCAD. These software
facilitated the scaling of these
drawings resulting in more precise
and presentable layouts, Figure 7.
Figure 7 Map of Pivot Farmers
CROP DIVERSICATION MAPPING
The engineering department
department’ss
involvement in the Crop diversification
drip irrigated CFC project in Trelawny
resulted
lt d in
i the
th mapping
i andd designs
d i
off
over seven fields, aided by the Hand held
GPS units. The location of hydrants,
intervals, pipeline and other pertinent
hydraulic structures was possible
although the cloud cover was less than
ideal at the time, figure 8.
Fig 8 : Satellite Image of Crop Diversification Project, Braco, Trelawny
DEEP WELL LICENSING
Other aspects
p
of Irrigation
g
systems
y
such as Pumping Stations were
accurately located for the benefit of
precise Engineering designs and
Deep Well licensing by the Water
Resources Authority,
Authority figure 9
Figure 9 : Well TESTING & LICENSING, New Yarmouth
Other useful features of the GPS
units
i include
i l d tracking
ki off actuall
routes traversed through the use
of the “Gartrip”
Gartrip Software,
Software
figure 10 .
Figure 10: GPS Tracking of Parts of Clarendon
GPS TRACKING
With the challenges
g of obtainingg more
accurate elevations, a special GPS
surveying unit for drainage, Trimble
“
“Recon
R3”
3” was acquired.
i d This
hi unit
i is
i
capable of precision of 3 cm accuracy
compared with several meters that was
previously experienced with the
Garmin units,, ffigure
g
11
Figure 11 : Left, Recon 3 GPS Unit, Right , Garmin GPS 76
COMPARISON OF IMAGERIES
More recently, the experience of poor
qquality
y IKONOS imagery
g y of parts
p
of
Clarendon prompted investigation into the
usefulness of Google Earth Imagery as an
alternative. The linear measurements
obtained with this Google Imagery were
compared with those obtained using the
IKONOS and the traditional ‘tape’
method, figure 12.
Figure 12,Satellite Imagery comparison
Left IKONOS,, Right,
g , GOOGLE EARTH
RESULTS
On the hilly or undulating terrains,
the
measurement
was
more
challenging as the area projected by
the GPS unit is within the horizontal
plain
plain.
An adjustment to the
measured area in these undulating
areas was therefore necessary,
figure 13.
Figure 13 :Measurement Challenges using Garmin GPS Units
True Measurement, A function of Slope
B
A
α
C
Horizontal Plane (Measured By GPS, Unit)
True Measurement AB =AC/Cosine α
UPLOADING OF WAYPOINTS
The Google
Th
G
l Pro
P software
ft
was
also found to be extremely
useful for uploading
“Waypoints” from the Garmin
GPS units into the Google
Earth imagery, Figure 14.
Figure 14: Uploading of Waypoint to Google Imagery
RESULTS CONT’D
CONT D
The lengths of the mapped drains,
when
h superimposed
i
d on the
h IKONOS
imagery of the areas compared
favourably with the linear dimensions
from physical measurements. This
enabled the accurate determination of
earthwork volumes and by extension,
estimated construction cost, Figure15
Fig 15 :
RESULTS CON’D
The Erdas Viewer and Arc View 8.3
S ft
Software
were usedd along
l
with
ith the
th
IKONOS imagery to verify the true
dimensions and areas as measured by the
Hand Held GPS units and the results
compare
p favourably,
y ffigure
g
16
Figure 16 : ARC VIEW SOFTWARE
DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION CONT’D
Consultation is expected to optimize production,
production management and
processing decisions with available data :
1
Soil characteristics (drainage, draughtiness, fertility status)
2
Land characteristics (slope, erosion, climate, zones)
3
Infrastructural data (land area, lease/ownership status,
transport
p network
4
Management inputs (fertilizer, pesticide usage, cane
variety erosion controls.
5
Harvesting (Logistics
(Logistics, management equipment
distribution)
The common link among all these data is geographic location.
DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION
CONT’D
A Virtual office may be a short term
objective to the alternative of setting up of a
separate GIS department. This could
facilitate GIS correspondences very
efficiently.
ffi i tl A toll-free
t ll f
phone
h
number
b can
also be extremely useful. The postal mail,
voice mail and faxes may be forwarded
electronically and retrieved anywhere once
there is internet access.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author wishes to acknowledge the
tremendous support provided by SIRI
staff
ff members
b especially
i ll the
h
Agricultural Services Manager and the
Director in advancing this technology.
technology
The author is also especially grateful to
the engineering
g
g department
p
ppersonnel
who made this paper possible.
The E
T
End
Thank You
Questions?