Variable Rate Mode

Variable Rate Mode turns a zoned dataset into an application plan. You give each zone a rate, then either download a prescription shapefile for your equipment's software or follow the rate live on a device in the cab.

Open it from the Plugins button (the flask icon at the left of the farm map), which is shown to the farm's Owner, Administrators and Editors on a desktop or tablet. The plugin opens as a full page; Back to farm returns to the map.

Note: Variable rate maps work best with a dataset that covers a single field. A dataset spread over several separate fields can produce odd zones.

#What makes a dataset "VR Compatible"

Datasets that are ready to use carry a green VR Compatible badge in the list. A point or polygon dataset qualifies when its colour setting is Value Based and one of these is true:

• it is a polygon dataset, or
• its Ramp Setting is Equal interval, Jenks or Categorical.

A dataset coloured with the Linear ramp has no zones, so it does not qualify. If you select a dataset that is not compatible, the plugin lists what to change, and Configure Dataset Settings opens that dataset so you can set its colour, ramp and Zone Count. Come back to Variable Rate Mode afterwards.

#Steps

1. Under Dataset Selection, browse the folders and click a dataset. The Preview side shows whether it is compatible and draws it on a small map.
2. Wait for the zones to appear.
   • For a point dataset, Every.Farm builds one polygon per zone from the points. Filters saved on the dataset are respected, so hidden points are left out.
   • For a polygon dataset, the polygons are used as they are, and each distinct value of the colour header becomes a zone.
3. Under Zone Rate Configuration, type a rate for each zone. Zones are numbered from 1 and, for point datasets, show the value range they cover (for example Zone 2 · 14.2 – 18.6). Every zone starts at 50. Rates are plain numbers; use whatever unit your controller or software expects.
4. Choose what to do with the rates:
   • Download prescription shapefile to load the plan into other software.
   • Start Variable Rate to follow the rate live on this device.

Your rates are saved with the dataset when you download or start. The next time you select the same dataset they are filled in again ("Loaded previously saved zone rates"), as long as the dataset's colour header, ramp setting and zone count have not changed since.

#Download a prescription shapefile

Download prescription shapefile saves a zipped shapefile named after the dataset, ending in _prescription. Import it into Ag Leader SMS, Trimble or John Deere Operations Center as a prescription and choose the rate column as the rate.

For a point dataset, the file has one polygon per zone with these columns:

For a polygon dataset, each polygon keeps its own columns and gains rate and zone_num.

#Follow the rate live

Start Variable Rate opens a full-screen map of the zones and starts tracking the device's position. Allow location access when the browser asks.

• Current Rate shows the rate of the zone you are in. Outside every zone it reads 0.
• GPS shows whether a position has been found and its accuracy in metres.
• Start Simulation moves a simulated position across the dataset, so you can check the rates change as expected without driving the field. Stop Simulation returns to the real position.
• Stop Variable Rate closes the map and sets the rate back to 0.

The current rate is also sent to a rate-controller program running on the same device, if one is listening. Connecting a controller needs set-up on your equipment; contact us if you want to do this.

#Related

• Interpolator and Magic Map turn scattered points into an even surface that zones well.
• Multivariate Zoning builds zones from several variables at once.
• Filters control which points take part.