Geomatics and GNSS in Agriculture

The application of spatial information and the role of geomatics in agriculture is increasing.  Many precision agriculture applications rely on the availability of accurate and reliable spatial data. GNSS (global navigation sattelite systems) provides real-time positioning data required to perform location specific automated actions in the field and to track and log the location and time of field operations. GIS (geographic information systems) provides ways to manage this information and to combine and enrich spatial data, generating relevant management data to further improve farm management. The acceptance of open standards (e.g. OGC) by the agricultural community allows seamless exchange of relevant spatial data with external partners.

This site intents to inform on developments and applications in agriculture that innovatively use geomatics and GNSS.

The FieldFact project

The FieldFact project investigates the benefits and opportunities of Galileo in agriculture. The project increases the awareness of the sector in the potentials of Galileo and promotes the platform and associated services in agriculture. Satellite location and navigation is increasingly used in agriculture to provide the farmer and other players in agriculture accurate and timely information on where and when activities take place.

FieldFact consists of a promotion and training campaign around demonstrators showing the integration of GNSS and topographic data in farm management systems context. In order to reach as broad as possible audience, we propose to focus on two different demonstrators:

• An application of mass-market (handheld) receivers to reach the larger part of the user community;
• An application of dedicated receiver integrated with sensors and machine monitors.

This second, so-called High-End, application will serve a smaller market segment but has a “formula 1” attractiveness to farmers.