Comparing high density LIDAR and medium resolution GPS generated elevation data for predicting yield stability

High density light detection and ranging (LIDAR) imaging has been shown to be able to define yield stability areas of a field for multi-cropping. Since LIDAR imaging is expensive and not widely available, it was hypothesized that medium resolution GPS elevation data which is commonly collected with variable rate technology (VRT) controllers and crop yield monitors could be used in lieu of LIDAR imaging. If proven, growers would be able to construct yield stability maps of their fields without the expense of obtaining LIDAR imaging. After substituting medium resolution GPS elevation data derived from the crop yield monitors, the procedure developed for developing a crop yield stability map was invoked and tested. The hypothesis that medium resolution GPS data could be used in lieu of LIDAR data was found to be invalid as the map generated incorrectly identified both high yield and medium yield areas of the field as low yielding areas as well as the inverse. While disappointing, high resolution GPS data from real-time kinetics (RTK) systems is yet to be tested and may offer an additional avenue to developing crop yield stability maps.

Research highlights▶ GPS elevation data was used to generate crop yield stability maps using multiple years of yield data. ▶ LIDAR data can be combined with crop yield monitor data to develop crop yield stability maps. ▶ LIDAR data is not ubiquitous but GPS elevation data from yield monitors is. ▶ The procedure was applied using corrected GPS elevation data to develop a crop yield stability map. ▶ The resulting map was erroneous misplacing low, medium and high yields in incorrect locations.