Auto Generated Field Layers

Below is a summary of the Auto Generated Field Layers: Elevation, Imagery, SSURGO Management Zone, Normalized Yield, and Yield Potential.

Elevation

“Elevation” data layer folder available to them for any field within FieldAlytics. This layer is obtained from the collection of DEM data for the United States and Canada. These data layers are shown at a 3m resolution. Any newly mapped or uploaded fields will automatically include this data set.

A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a representation of the bare ground (bare earth) topographic surface of the Earth excluding trees, buildings, and any other surface objects. DEMs are created from a variety of sources. USGS DEMs used to be derived primarily from topographic maps. Those are being systematically replaced with DEMs derived from high-resolution LIDAR and lfSAR (Alaska only) data. 

1. Expand your desired field to show all field data layer options 

2. Select the “Elevation” folder. It should show a new option specific to the date of the field’s creation or last update/edit. 

   

3. Upon selection of the layer, you will then have mappable options for the primary elevation, slope, aspect, depressions and other key elevation attributes. 

Imagery

SSURGO Management Zone

When a field is created in FieldAlytics a management zone will be created automatically for the field from the SSURGO soil polygons, called “SSURGO”. Each unique soil polygon will be its own polygon. The management zone will be added to your field’s management tree and placed within management zones layer under the year created. Each time your field boundary is modified the management zone will be regenerated. In the future a new management zone will be created for your field in each crop year with the publishing of the annual SSURGO dataset. These new management zones will only be available for fields within the continental United States (and Hawaii starting in May of 2020).

Normalized Yield

Yield Potential

Yield potential from SSURGO soil types layer will present itself and be listed by Crop upon field creation or edit. Previously this soil information was available as upper and lower yield bounds for NDVI yield potentials or within the SSURGO management zone. These Yield Potential layers utilize the SSURGO soil polygon spatial layer as its base and couple that with the EFC Algorithmic soil yield potential algorithm that works with various other data and information added on top of it to attempt to reflect the true potential for each listed crop within the known soil classifications for each given year. Multiple crops are available within the same crop year, so users will be able to explore various yield and cropping scenarios. Depending on the state that the field is within various cropping scenarios are available reflecting that of the dominant crops grown in the state. 

Users working with these layers can elect to manually update the Min and Max Yield values assigned to the layer. Modifications to the default naming can also occur to allow for personalization of the information and display. 

Automatically Generated Layers FAQ

Why is my field missing all automatically generated data layers?

• Fields that contain invalid boundary vertices or are of excessive size can fail to generate these data layers. A boundary refresh can clean up invalid polygons. To do so, select Field Boundary under the field name, then click on an Exterior Polygon in the right pane. Select the save icon from the left side of the map. The boundary is now refreshed and all auto layers should also refresh. Fields containing very complex boundaries or of excessive area may need split. Field size of less than one square mile is generally safe, although very complex boundaries or very long thing fields can reduce the field size that successfully populates data.

Why is my field missing SSURGO data?

• SSURGO data may not be available for the area, available SSURGO data can be visualized by selecting Layers from the top of the map, then SSURGO Data, then Show. Fields within city limits for example, generally have not had a soil survey done.

Why is my field missing Normalized Yield/Yield Potential?

• Normalized Yield is dependent on having multiple years of good satellite imagery. Yield potential can be generated from soil data which requires SSURGO data with crop-specific yield potentials attached to the soil types, or from NDVI data which is dependent on having imagery and reported county averages for listed crops.