Need a cell phone app for tracking field work?

[Fordman1981]

thanks all for the great feedback. I'll keep looking for what is out there. Steve

Do you have an auto steer capable tractor? Look up John Deere GS3. The price varies depending on the accuracy you need. In our planter we have the best accuracy which I think is within inches but on the ground engaging tractor the accuracy is a couple feet. We run in 11th gear at 8 mph pulling a 26' (might be 28') cultivator and it maps every inch the implement is down.

 

[Redneck in training]

As s219 said, no phone GPS is going to have better than 3 meter accuracy. Doesn't matter what software is run on it.

10 ft is absolute accuracy which is not too relevant for this case. As long as the positioning error stays constant (which it might for few hours) the GPS can achieve "repeatabiltiy" or "resolution" better than 3 ft.

 

[dickfoster]

10 ft is absolute accuracy which is not too relevant for this case. As long as the positioning error stays constant (which it might for few hours) the GPS can achieve "repeatabiltiy" or "resolution" better than 3 ft.

For what it is GPS is great it's just not accurate enough to do what he wants it to do.
He doesn't need global accuracy for a field, he needs something simpler, faster, cheaper and more accurate over a relatively small area.
I was involved in the early days of using satellites for global positioning and was a geodetic surveyor, did 1st order work and even did some work that came to be a part of WGS84. Heck I even moved Guam a mile. What we did is where GPS came from.
I know what GPS is good for and what it isn't and this ain't one of em. For what he's doing a string with knots in it is more accurate and repeatable than the GPS gear he has access to. Global Positioning System, it says what it is and everything is in its name and for what it is, it is wonderful, it just isn't so great for everything.

An original member of DMA here, which later morphed to NIMA and today is NGA or the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency so I pretty much know this kinda stuff cold. Defense Mapping Agency
However with all that said, if you don't wanna get lost, don't leave home without it because, it's great for that.

 

[bdog]

For what it is GPS is great it's just not accurate enough to do what he wants it to do.
He doesn't need global accuracy for a field, he needs something simpler, faster, cheaper and more accurate over a relatively small area.
I was involved in the early days of using satellites for global positioning and was a geodetic surveyor, did 1st order work and even did some work that came to be a part of WGS84. Heck I even moved Guam a mile. What we did is where GPS came from.
I know what GPS is good for and what it isn't and this ain't one of em. For what he's doing a string with knots in it is more accurate and repeatable than the GPS gear he has access to. Global Positioning System, it says what it is and everything is in its name and for what it is, it is wonderful, it just isn't so great for everything.

An original member of DMA here, which later morphed to NIMA and today is NGA or the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency so I pretty much know this kinda stuff cold. Defense Mapping Agency
However with all that said, if you don't wanna get lost, don't leave home without it because, it's great for that.

Consumer grade GPS I will agree with you. With my RTK I get sub inch. Almost all full time farmers use RTK either with their own base or a VRS network and get sub inch accuracy. It ain't cheap or practical for a hobby farmer. I have close to 30k in my RTK gear.

 

[dickfoster]

Consumer grade GPS I will agree with you. With my RTK I get sub inch. Almost all full time farmers use RTK either with their own base or a VRS network and get sub inch accuracy. It ain't cheap or practical for a hobby farmer. I have close to 30k in my RTK gear.

Exactly.