VISUAL INFORMATION SYSTEM AND COMPUTER MOBILITY APPLICATION FOR FIELD PERSONNEL

• US 20140136286A1
• Filed: 04/13/2012
• Published: 05/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BASF Agro Trademarks GmbH (BASF SE)
• Original Assignee: Bayer Cropscience LP (Bayer AG)
• Inventors: Hovis, Allan, Paterson, David
• Granted Patent: US 10,699,222 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.34
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 69/00 Steering of agricultural machines or implements; Guiding agricultural machines or implements on a desired track
• CPC Class Codes: A01B 79/005 Precision agriculture
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/02 Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means

Abstract

A system for providing visual crop data to a mobile device includes at least one server computer in communication with a mobile device. The at least one server computer is configured to receive location data relating to a geographical position of the mobile device; retrieve topographical data associated with at least a portion of the location data; generate shape data based at least partially on the topographical data; and transmit at least a portion of the shape data to the mobile device, such that at least one shape is visually displayed on at least a portion of a map image displayed on the mobile device. Also disclosed is a computer-implemented method and computer program product for providing and/or interacting with visual crop data, including appropriately communicatively connected hardware components.

Claims

1. A system for providing visual crop data to a mobile device, the system comprising at least one server computer in communication with a mobile device, the at least one server computer configured to:

receive, from the mobile device, location data relating to a geographical position of the mobile device;

retrieve, from at least one topographical data source, topographical data associated with at least a portion of the location data;

generate shape data based at least partially on the topographical data; and

transmit at least a portion of the shape data to the mobile device, such that at least one shape is visually displayed on at least a portion of a map image displayed on the mobile device, wherein the at least one shape is based at least partially on the at least a portion of the shape data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one shape at least partially indicates at least one region, the at least one region comprising at least one of the following:

soil region, crop region, geographic region, or any combination thereof.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein at least one buffer region is displayed in relation to the at least one region.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein a location of the at least one buffer region in relation to the at least one soil region is at least partially determined by at least one of the following:

regulatory requirements, water sources, crop type, crop treatment applications, or any combination thereof.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the topographical data comprises Extensible Markup Language (XML) data, and wherein at least part of the XML data at least partially represents at least one of the following:

mark, image, polygon, three-dimensional models, textual descriptions, geographical coordinates, or any combination thereof.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one buffer region is displayed in relation to at least one of the following:

protected area, water source, animal habitat, or any combination thereof.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein at least one of a size, shape, and location of the at least one buffer region is influenced by wind speed data, and wherein the wind speed data is retrieved from at least one of the mobile device and an external data source.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one topographical data source is at least one of the following:

the Harmonized World Soil Database, the Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) Database, or any combination thereof.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server computer is further configured to:

receive field area data relating to the geographical position of the mobile device, wherein the field area data is received from at least one of the following;

the mobile device, the at least one topographical data source, a local data source, a remote data source, or any combination thereof; and

determine, based at least partially on regulatory data and the field area data, regulatory compliance data relating to at least one crop area, wherein the regulatory compliance data indicates whether the at least one crop area is in compliance with at least one regulation.

10. A computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable medium, the computer-readable medium comprising a program which, when executed by a device having a processor and at least one display unit, causes the device to:

transmit location data to at least one host, the location data representing a geographic location;

receive shape data representing at least one shape, the at least one shape at least partially corresponding to at least one specific region, wherein at least a portion of the at least one region is included in at least a portion of a geographic region; and

display, in combination with a visual representation of at least a portion of the geographic region active within the at least one display unit, at least a portion of the at least one shape.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the device comprises a mobile computer, and wherein the geographic location is at least partially based on a physical location of the mobile computer.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the program further causes the device to display at least one buffer region in relation to the at least one shape.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein at least one of a location, size, and shape of the at least one buffer region is determined by at least one of the following:

regulatory requirements, water sources, crop type, crop treatment applications, or any combination thereof.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the at least one region comprises at least one soil region classified by at least one of the following:

soil composition, crop type, mineral level, altitude, specified geometric boundary, salinity, or any combination thereof.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the program further causes the device to display at least one suggested crop type for at least a portion of the geographic region.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the at least one selected crop type is at least partially determined from at least one of the following:

a best crop database, the geographic location, a soil type or composition associated with at least a portion of the geographic region, rainfall data associated with at least a portion of the geographic region, temperature data associated with at least a portion of the geographic region, salinity levels associated with at least a portion of the geographic region, or any combination thereof.

17. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the program further causes the device to perform at least one of the following steps:

display regulatory compliance information for at least one crop area, wherein at least a portion of the regulatory compliance information is determined at least partially from field area data inputted into the device;

transmit compliance information related to at least one inspection region to at least one regulatory authority, wherein at least a portion of the compliance information comprises at least one of the following;

an image or video of at least a portion of the at least one inspection region, inputted data, wind speed data, altitude data or any combination thereof;

generate a regulatory compliance report for at least one inspection region, wherein the at least one inspection region includes at least a portion of the geographic region, and wherein the regulatory compliance report is generated at least partially from at least one of inputted data and data received from the at least one host;

or

any combination thereof.

18. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the program further causes the device to display impact data configured to represent an estimated impact that at least one genetically modified crop will have on at least a portion of land associated with the geographic location.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the estimated impact is at least partially determined from an amount of the at least a portion of land that the at least one genetically modified crop can be grown on, and wherein the estimated impact at least partially comprises at least one of the following:

crop production impact of growing the at least one genetically modified crop on the at least a portion of land, profit impact for growing the at least one genetically modified crop on the at least a portion of land, or any combination thereof.

20. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the program further causes the device to display a graphical user interface comprising at least one of the following:

zoom tool, search tool, directional movement tool, scope, compass, point placement tool, or any combination thereof.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the graphical user interface comprises the point placement tool, and wherein the point placement tool accepts user input and, based at least partially on the user input, causes at least one point to be displayed on the device, the at least one point associated with at least one geographic coordinate and a characteristic associated with the at least one geographic coordinate.

22. A computer-implemented method performed on at least one computer system including at least one processor, the method comprising:

receiving, from a mobile device, location data relating to a geographical position of the mobile device;

identifying topographical data relating at least partially to the geographical position; and

transmitting, to the mobile device, map data and shape data, wherein the map data allows the mobile device to display a visual image representing a geographical region at least partially corresponding to the geographical position, and wherein the shape data is configured to cause the mobile device to display at least one shape representing at least a portion of at least one specified area, and wherein the geographical region includes the at least a portion of the at least one specified area.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising displaying at least one buffer region in relation to the at least one shape.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein at least one of a position, shape, and size of the at least one buffer region is at least partially determined by at least one of the following:

regulatory requirements, water sources, crop type, crop treatment applications, or any combination thereof.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein at least one of a size, shape, and location of the at least one buffer region is influenced by wind speed data, and wherein the wind speed data is received from at least one of the mobile device and an external data source.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein an outer perimeter of the at least one buffer region is generated by calculating a predetermined distance from an outer perimeter of the at least one shape.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising converting at least a portion of the topographical data to Extensible Markup Language (XML) data, wherein at least a portion of the XML data at least partially represents at least one of the following:

mark, image, polygon, three-dimensional models, textual descriptions, geographical coordinates, or any combination thereof.

28. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving field area data relating to the geographical position of the mobile device, wherein the field area data is received from at least one of the following;

the mobile device, the at least one topographical data source, a local data source, a remote data source, or any combination thereof; and

determining, based at least partially on regulatory data and the field area data, regulatory compliance data relating to at least one crop area, wherein the regulatory compliance data indicates whether the at least one crop area is in compliance with at least one regulation.