Basic Design Kit

With the “Basic Design Kit” you can take any image (such as an image from a maze designer) and easily geo-reference it yourself. Take the image to the field and start cutting the maze using GPS. The Basic Design Kit also includes valuable desktop software for maze creation and printing mazes for posters, flyers, and other promotions.

The Basic Maze Design Kit Includes:

  • Garmin 18 GPS Receiver.  The affordable Garmin GPS receiver is ideal for basic mazes that don't have a lot of detail.  If the paths of your maze are no less than 6 to 15 feet apart, then this GPS receiver will work well for you.  The GPS receiver is accurate to within 12 to 20 inches within a short period of time and accurate to within 6 to 15 feet over a longer period of time. This makes it possible to accurately cut a basic maze without counting rows or guessing if you're in the right spot. This GPS receiver can be mounted to any mower, 4-wheeler or other vehicle for GPS mapping.   If you are farming, this GPS receiver can be used for basic mapping of field boundaries, soil samples and other features.
  • HP iPAQ Model 2495 Pocket PC. This is a standard Pocket PC that can be used for many other purposes. The Pocket PC includes a range of software such as Pocket Word, Excel and Outlook. This also includes a docking station that connects to your desktop computer via a USB port so you can synchronize maps and other data between the Pocket PC and your desktop computer.
  • Powered Ram Mount. This mount will securly hold your Pocket PC when you're mowing and/or mapping.  The mount is rugged, and comes with a one year warranty.
  • Farm Site Mate Scouting. GPS mapping software that installs to the Pocket PC. This software will be used when you are cutting your maze. The software is simple to use and will show a picture of the maze on your screen with your current GPS position on top of the map. Simply use the map as a point of reference and follow the map as you go!
  • Farm Trac and Farm Site.  This is the desktop software for maze creation as well as printing for posters, flyers, and other promotions.

Unique Features:

  • Includes efficient tools in the field for never missing parts of the corn maze on the initial cut.  Set the desired width and color for the paths that are drawn on the screen as you mow.  This way it is easy to see which parts of the maze have been cut and which still need to be completed.
  • Use the same setup when going back for follow-up cuttings.  Again use different colors and line widths so it is easy to know where you've mowed and where you've missed.
  • Farm Site Mate Basic is the leading GPS mapping software that is used by more than 15,000 farmers world-wide for agricultural mapping, scouting and variable rate application.  If you also farm, you can use this same setup to map field boundaries, tiling lines, rocks, soil sample locations and anything else you like.  The software may also be upgraded for field scouting, guidance, variable rate application, and field record-keeping.
  • Would you like to know the total feet or miles that are covered by your maze?  When you're finished cutting your maze just tap on the maze and the software will tell you the total distance covered.  The software also tells you the total acres or square feet of the field containing the corn maze.

 

 

Here’s how it works:

    1. Take the maze design kit (Pocket PC, GPS and software) out on a 4 wheeler, mower or other vehicle and drive around the field that you want to use for the maze.  The program will display a GPS mapped field boundary on the screen with all data saved to a file.
    2. Take the Pocket PC back to the office and "synchronize" it with your desktop computer. This will bring the boundary of the field into the desktop software.  Free road and waterway maps can also be downloaded from the Internet to improve the look of the map.
    3. Use the drawing tools in the desktop software to draw your maze inside the boundary of the field. By having a GPS referenced map of the field boundary, you can create the map so it takes advantage of every part of the field.
    4. (Optional)  If someone else designs the maze for you, have them send you an image file (.jpg, .tif or .bmp) of the maze. Use the "Image Processing Tools" of the desktop software to match GPS positions from the geo-referenced field boundary to the non geo-referenced image of the corn maze.  Once the GPS coordinates are matched to the corn maze image, the job is completed.
    5. Copy the map that you hand-drew or the image you calibrated to your Pocket PC (flash memory or storage card).  Open Farm Site Mate and load the image or hand-drawn map as a background layer.
    6. Place the Pocket PC, GPS Receiver and mount onto your mower and start mowing!  Farm Site Mate will show your current position on top of the image of the maze. Lines will be drawn everywhere that you mow so you know exactly what you've covered and what still needs to be done.
    7. Use the same setup for subsequent follow-up mowings. Just use a different line color to make it easy!
    8. Synchronize the maps that you create with GPS with your desktop computer.  Make backups of your data to use in the future.