Multiple tractors over multiple fields

[Boomerang]

If a farming company has many tractors and farms over a 100 different fields how do they run the GPS, does each tractor have to set up each field and save data itself . What's tractor GPS limit on how many fields it can store.?
Or can it be set up by one unit which transmits data to a central server and each tractor then logs into it .
Or USB sticks with data on for each tractor .
No idea how these systems work.

 

[Deerefarmer]

I'm sure everyone does it differently, I have quite a few feilds saved, it's nice to be able to roll into a field and boundary and lines are in the system. However for every feild I have saved I probably get across just as many that i don't take the time to record and save the boundary or A/B lines. You can still create track lines for that field like normal they just aren't saved. Saved field data can be transferred from tractor to tractor via USB depending on brand and so forth.
I know on our older fendts we had enough saved feild data that the storage capacity was maxed but I have no idea how many of fields that would have been.

 

[Northern farmer]

Storage capacity on modern tractors is unlikely an issue. They can even save a huge number of engine and transmission parameters "per point" on the field. Field border and wayline info is negligible compared to that, even mapping data is less bytes (and you can delete coverage data on the old tractor too to leave room for fields and waylines).

Transferring field borders is almost straightforward between multiple brands, no need to create the same field multiple times. Transferring AB-lines may be a bit difficult, contour lines even more.

Modern tractors support off-line task handling. You can plan a task off line and send all the necessary data to that particular tractor that is going to perform the task. No need to store info for every possible field the contracting company takes car of.

FendtONE offboard available with full functionality

www.fendt.com

 

[DrDunc]

The farmer developed "agopengps" permits everything to be saved independently of whatever vehicle records the data

I've boundary and AB lines from near a hundred fields just from my own farm work and a little contract work when I've been helping out neighbours. Pop the computer into it's cradle, drive into a field previously worked, and the data is immediately available on any and all of my tractors (or indeed any tractor with the hardware installed that costs a few hundred quid to assemble)

Agopengps full rtk auto steer and section control can all be set up for about £1k

There are no Agopengps annual subscriptions, license fees, or data storage costs



Or pay for, say, a Trimble system: £Tens of thousands to set up, annual fees, licenses, and you need to pay for it in each vehicle - well Agco need to recoup their $billion investment in the company don't they? They and their shareholders would be poor if they didn't have gullible farmers to rob

 

[clbarclay]

AgOpenGPS is windows based and saves fields information as files in My Documents like pretty any program on a PC does. No trouble to cut, copy and paste them, sending them by whatever means you fancy. I have AgOpenGPS on my desktop too, which can be handier than a touch screen for managing things like tramlines. Numbers isn't a problem on a computer capable of storing many thousands of photos.

A 10+ year old Trimble system isn't quite so good for file management. All the field data can still be up or downloaded with a usb stick. The files are in a priority format though. You can share them between tractors, but not much else you can do with them without specialist software. The memory on my FM-1000 is pitiful compared to laptops or phones, but I still never got close to running out of storage space in 10 years use.

Modern systems from the big names seem to be, or moving to, cloudy based now. Capable of automatically sharing field data with other tractors, the office and the whole world.

 

[DrDunc]

Modern systems from the big names seem to be, or moving to, cloudy based now. Capable of automatically sharing field data with other tractors, the office and the whole world.

At, no doubt, a cost that reflects the price of modern machinery

 

[clbarclay]

Common business sense is that Price is based on what customers will pay, not what a product costs to produce.

So essentially yes, prices will be driven like those of tractors etc.


I don't regret spending £££££ on auto steering a decade ago, though now is not then and I can still understand why many people do still spend that now, for ease and convenience.

 

[bobk]

If a farming company has many tractors and farms over a 100 different fields how do they run the GPS, does each tractor have to set up each field and save data itself . What's tractor GPS limit on how many fields it can store.?
Or can it be set up by one unit which transmits data to a central server and each tractor then logs into it .
Or USB sticks with data on for each tractor .
No idea how these systems work.

Seen in OZ where 2 combines in the same field are linked , it's very impressive

 

[Shutesy]

If a farming company has many tractors and farms over a 100 different fields how do they run the GPS, does each tractor have to set up each field and save data itself . What's tractor GPS limit on how many fields it can store.?
Or can it be set up by one unit which transmits data to a central server and each tractor then logs into it .
Or USB sticks with data on for each tractor .
No idea how these systems work.

It helps running all the same brand of kit, we run all JD kit using Greenstar GPS all linked via the JD operations centre software. All the field names, field boundaries, guidance lines, trees, manholes, telegraph poles etc are setup on the computer then the same data file containing all 250+ fields and all the above mentioned information is sent to each machine either over the cloud or via a usb stick. This then means each machine has the same field names, boundaries, guidance lines and so on so everything links up and matches up wherever we go whether it's the sprayer coming into the field after it's been drilled or the combine matching up with the sprayers tramlines direction. If 2 or more machines are working in the same field doing the same job such as drilling each machine operator can see the other machine in the same field and their coverage data on there own tractor screen to enable them to work together. All data from each operation on each field is recorded onto the JD operations centre via the cloud whether tillage, harvesting, spraying etc. This includes time and dates of operations and weather conditions as well as seed rates, fertiliser application rates or yield maps so nothing gets missed. It can all be viewed in real time from the pc in the office or via the app on a smartphone or tablet. Makes use of the available tech and really helps with large scale arable farming with multiple machines and operators.