3D Farm Maps add extra dimension to farm management
21 June 2007
Computer-aided farm management entered the third dimension this month with the release by Terralink International of a new three-dimensional farm mapping service.
Using their new three-dimensional mapping techniques, Terralink can convert aerial photos of any farm in the country into a three-dimensional computer model that PC users can fly around and explore from their computers.
Using computer keys to maneuver, users can swoop and soar over a property as they take a birds eye tour, checking the locations and heights of features, and the gradients of paddocks, hills and contours.
Two-dimensional computer farm maps, based on aerial photos are no strangers to computer-savvy farmers. Switched on farmers have been using them as a farm management tool for years to improve fertilizer and irrigation application, manage stock rotation, measure paddocks and fence lines and drainage irrigation and waterline layouts.
But now the three-dimensional maps bring a whole new level of realism to computerised farming.
Terralink International Managing Director Mike Donald likens the advance to the shift to colour TV from black and white.
“Using a three-dimensional farm map is like the first time you watched the neighbours’ colour TV. It’s virtual reality on a completely new level,” he says.
Mr Donald expects one of the major uses of the new three-dimensional technology will be for planning improvements on farms, especially on undulating or hilly sites.
“With three-dimensional maps you have a whole new appreciation of the contours of the land, how water is going to flow, and of how the land, buildings and features sit in relation to each other, not only horizontally but vertically,” Mr Donald says.
Another important use will be for selling farms.
“With a three-dimensional fly over you can give a very big farm a close inspection from the other side of the world without leaving your desk,” he says.
The farm maps are created by Terralink International farm-mapping specialists who “drape” aerial photographs over three-dimensional digital terrain maps, that give detailed contour information on a land form. The process removes the flattening effect of 2-dimensional photography and produces a remarkably realistic three-dimensional model with photographic accuracy.
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