GIS Application of Sunflower Crop Survey in the Central Plains of the United States
John Nowatzki
GIS Application of Sunflower Crop Survey in the Central Plains of the United States
This is a GIS application of the 2001 sunflower crop survey conducted in North Dakota. This is an annual survey that will be expanded in 2002 to add the following states: South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Missouri and Texas. Data is collected at one location for each 5000 acres of sunflowers planted in each county. Information is collected for various weed, disease and insect infestations, and bird damage to the plants. The sample points, survey data and interpolated contour maps are available on the Internet site. The GIS generated sensitivity maps are served on the Internet using ArcIMS 3.1 and Internet Information Server, SP6, at http://134.129.78.15/website/sunflower/viewer.htm. Individuals can use a common web browser to access the site and interact with the survey data in a spatial format.
National Sunflower Association’s annual Fall Sunflower Crop Survey is a research project coordinated by North Dakota State University Extension Plant Pathologist Art Lamey. Volunteers from the various levels of the sunflowers industry conduct the survey annually in September. The survey teams of three individuals estimate yields, insect, disease and bird damage and note management practices. The 2002 survey will be conducted in the North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Missouri and Texas. There will be one survey point for every 5,000 acres of sunflowers planted in a each county. Surveyors will use GPS units to mark the survey locations.
The Sunflower Crop Survey supplies information to university researchers and individuals in the commercial sunflower industry. Research and extension personnel use the survey results for justification when applying for Section 18 emergency labels. The commercial sunflower industry uses the information for a variety of supply, sales and marketing decisions.
John Nowatzki, North Dakota State University Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department geospatial extension specialist, coordinates development of GIS layers from the survey information and publishing the data on the Internet using ArcIMS software. The ArcIMS website allows users to view survey results for each state included in the survey. Users can also add or remove desired GIS layers for each survey factor and for the general soil type. Users can also query the survey information at each survey site.
The survey field data is assembled into a Microsoft Exel database file. The database file includes the latitude and longitude of each survey point. The dbf format data is added to ArcView as a table. The data is added to and ArcView view as an event theme. The event theme is interpolated as a grid using the ArcView Spatial Analysis extension and reclassified into four categories. The reclassified grids are converted to shapefiles and served as layers in ArcIMS. The web page is served as image mapservices to facilitate serving speed and to allow greater versatility of web browsers.
John Nowatzki
Ag & Biosystems Engineering
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
National Sunflower Association
Nowatzki, John, North Dakota State University, 1221 Albrecht Boulevard, Fargo, ND 58105, USA, Phone: 701-231-8213, Fax: 701-231-1008, jnowatzki@ndsuext.nodak.edu,
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