Web-based Near Real-Time Remote Sensing Data System Providing Decision Support for Precision Agriculture

摘要

The U.S. Northern Great Plains is one of the world's most agriculturally productive areas. Digital Northern Great Plains (DNGP), a web-based remote sensing system available at http://dnpg.umac.org, and Zone Mapping Application for Precision-farming, a decision support tool based on DNGP available at http://zonemap.umac.org, were developed to provide remote sensing imagery and decision support for precision agriculture. The systems provide easy and free access to a variety of imagery and products in near real-time as well as in archive of past 30 years. Developed using open source applications, the systems have helped farmers and ranchers reduce operational costs and increase productivity through a variety of innovative applications. A user is able to use DNGP to define an area of interest, usually his or her own farm or ranch, and to download all the remote sensing data and products available for that area. Or alternatively, the user can have ZoneMAP to delineate management zones automatically using the remote sensing data as well as field data that the user may have collected. The systems are able to ingest virtually unlimited number data layers, each of different sources, formats, and projections, and seamlessly merge them together, analyse and process, all transparently to users.