Hi guys.
Today I bring you a novelty that for your orchards, especially in large orchards with a large number of trees, it will be very useful for you.
In large orchards, identifying and locating each variety can be a nightmare.
We have all fallen into the same mistakes, such as these two:
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Place labels on each tree of different materials, but due to weather conditions, all the labels end up deteriorating, and we no longer know for sure what the variety of each tree is.
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To solve the problem of labels, we use technology, creating databases in different formats (excel, word, etc…), to keep our varieties on file, locating them by fruit lines, and the position number they occupy each tree in said fruit lines.
But this is also a drag, since either we take the printed documents to the garden, or the laptop, or the tablet.
And also when we regraft a tree to change its variety, we must modify it in the document we have on file.
Well, we are going to give it a twist and we will take better advantage of technology.
I have a handheld GPS, and I have marked the coordinates of each tree, with its corresponding name, and that’s fine, but many times I forget to take the handheld GPS to the orchard.
What we never forget to carry in our pocket is our mobile phone " it is a fact " .
In case you didn’t know, mobile phones use 4 satellite systems for their geolocation:
- The American GPS system
- The European Galileo system
- The Russian GLONASS system
- The Chinese BeiDou system
If you want to check the satellite coverage of your mobile phone, just download the application:
-GPS Test
This is the satellite coverage of my mobile phone:
Fantastic , we already know that we have a device in our pocket , with magnificent satellite coverage , and that will provide us with a degree of accuracy in geolocation of 6 feet ( 1.8 meters ) , or even more precise .
Now we come to the interesting part of this whole matter.
There is a mobile application that has many uses , but for us it has a fundamental use , which is the geolocation and marking by means of " waypoints " of each of our trees , and can also add a quantity of complementary information of great help .
And I explain everything, since it is an application for children hahahahahaha.
This is the application:
- Collector, developed by ArcGIS
There are paid professional versions, and free versions, so you can have this application without problems.
I have downloaded the application in Spanish, but there is one in English, so it is best that you look for yourselves from your mobile with this search:
ArcGIS Collector apk english
You download and install the latest version.
Let’s see what this app does.
You download, install the application on your mobile phone and when you open the application it will search for your position by connecting to all available satellites, showing an image on the screen like this:
As you will see, your position is indicated, and in the lower right corner, indicated with a red arrow, you will find the + icon, which you must press, and this other screen will appear:
And we select the option:
Forest Activity Tracking
And here you must press the Harvest icon (marked with a red arrow), and it will take us to this other screen that is the one that interests us:
This is what is truly interesting , since we simply stand in the center of the tree , and mark its position , and later , there are a lot of informative options to save the waypoint such as variety name , harvest start date , end date harvest, treatments, and countless more data.
So it´s simply every time you go to the orchard, you mark the waypoint of one or two trees, and in a very short time you will have geolocated and identified each fruit tree variety, and other data of interest for each of your trees.
In an orchard like mine, with about two thousand trees, this application is really fantastic.
Congratulations and criticism are allowed hahahahahahahaha
Regards
Jose