Creating a map in Farm Trac Plus

Loading USGS Road & Waterway Maps (known as Quads)

U.S. Geological Survey maps (USGS Quads) are geo-referenced maps of roads, waterways, railroads and other significant features. Quads CDs typically contain map data for a one to five state area and a CD for your area is included with Trac Plus. To load the maps for your farm into Trac Plus:

1. Select Map Setup from the File menu. The Map Setup box will appear.
2. Insert the USGS Quads CD into your CD drive and select the Drive from the drop-down list.
3. Select the States to Import from the list to load maps with county boundaries.
4. Select Import United States Map to load a map of all US state boundaries.
5. Select Activate USGS Quads Map. This will make the quads layer, which is used for selecting the area of your farm, your active layer once it is imported.
6. Click OK to load the selected maps. You will see a map of the United States on the screen with county boundaries for the states from step #3.

7. Use the Zoom tool to zoom in on the area where your farm is located. You will now see a series of yellow squares. Each yellow square represents a quad, which is an area that you can import road and waterway data for.
8. Using the Pointer Tool, select the quads to import. Hold downthe Ctrl key on your keyboard to select multiple quads or click and drag to rubber band a section. Selected quads will have a gray crosshatch pattern.
   
9. Right click with your mouse and select Import Quads from the menu. The Import USGS Quads box will appear.
10. Select the type of data you wish to Import. Each data type will be loaded to a separate layer.
    a. Roads and Trails: Includes streets, highways and roads.
    b. Waterways: Includes lakes, rivers and creeks.
    c. Railroads: Includes major railroads that have been mapped.
    d. Misc. Transportation: Includes features such as major pipelines and high overhead power lines.
11. If your quads border a state boundary, they may be available on more than one CD. In that case, you will need to select the CD # from which you are loading the quads. The CD # is written on the front of the CD.
12. Click OK to load the quads for your area.
13. In the Import USGS Quads box select your CD-ROM Drive Letter from the drop-down list and click OK. Depending on the number of quads selected and the speed of your computer, it may take several minutes to import the quads. Each type of data (roads, waterways, etc.) for each quad will be loaded onto a separate layer.
14. After the quads have been loaded, switch to the Layers tab as shown on the right.
15. Select the Layer Management button. The Layer Management box will appear. Available Layers and Displayed Layers will be listed.
16. Available layers (which includes the newly imported road and waterway layers) are listed under the project name in folders. Click on a Plus + sign to view the contents.
17. Remove the US Quad Layer from the Displayed Layers list and add the Main Farming Layer to the Displayed Layers list. The Main Farming Layer is the layer where you will draw your field boundaries. This is also the layer that will be used for field records. Items may be removed from the Displayed Layers by double clicking on them. To add an item to the Displayed Layers list, double click on the item in the Available Layers. Items may also be added or removed by clicking on them and using the arrows between the lists. The bottom arrow will remove all items from the display.
18. Select the Done button in Layer Management to display the selected layers. Trac Plus will automatically color the roads red, the waterways blue, the railroads black and the misc. transportation green.
    

Deleting Extra Roads & Waterways

You may find that the quads give you more data than you need. The following steps will help you to delete data from the USGS Quad maps that you will not need, such as roads and waterways that are not on your farm..

1. Select the Layer Management button to go to Layer Management and use the Remove All button to remove all layers from display.
2. Click and drag the Roads folder from the Available Layers to the Displayed Layers. The result is that all roads will be displayed.
3. Select the Done button and the layers will be displayed. If all maps are not visible, select the Zoom All button (located in the lower left corner of the map screen).
4. The Layers tab on the left will list the layers that are displayed. The top layer (known as the Active Layer) is the layer you will be working with. Use the Pointer Tool to click and drag to select any lines on the Active Layer that you would like to delete. Multiple areas may be selected by using the Ctrl key on your keyboard and clicking and dragging. Selected lines will have dotted lines and will be flashing.
5. Right-click and select Delete and the lines will be deleted.
6. Select the next layer that you wish to work with (in the Layers tab) and select the Top button to make the layer the top/Active Layer so you can delete the extra lines on this layer.
7. Repeat step #6 for each of the layers that are displayed.
8. Repeat this entire process for Waterway, Railroad and Misc. Transportation maps so each map layer contains only the data that you wish to use.
   

Setting up a Startup Combination of Maps for Display

Each time that you go into your Trac Plus project, the program will display your maps. By default the program will only display the Main Farming Layer, which will have your field boundaries and field records. The following section will show you how to set the program up so it will display other maps (such as Roads & Waterways) at startup:

1. Select the Layer Management button to go to Layer Management and use the Remove All button to remove all layers from display.
2. Select the layers to be displayed (in the Available Layers section) and move them to the Displayed Layers area. Make sure that the Main Farming Layer is listed as the top/Active Layer (in the Displayed Layers).
3. In Layer Management, select Save as Startup from the File menu. This will cause Trac Plus to load this combination of layers each time you go into the project.
4. Select the Done button and the layers will be displayed.
   

Calibrating Aerial Photos from the Internet

Trac Plus includes a method to quickly and easily download free, geo-referenced images from the Internet. To obtain the aerial images, you will need to know at least one geographic coordinate in your area and have an active Internet connection. Coordinates may be obtained from the USGS road and waterway maps that you have loaded into Trac Plus.

Registering a Point

1. To begin you will need to obtain at least one set of GPS coordinates that are to the North and West of your farm. The easiest way to obtain these coordinates is to use USGS road and waterway maps that have been loaded into Trac Plus. Select the Layer Management button to go to Layer Management and display the road and waterway layer.
2. Next switch to the Backdrop Tools and click on the Registration Points button. The Registration Points box will appear.
3. Click on a point on your map that represents the Northwest corner of your farm. The coordinates will appear in the Registration Points box.
4. Enter a Description that defines the location in terms you will understand later: Smith Farm NW, for example.
5. Click Record to save the information and click Done to close the Registration Points box.
   

Downloading and Calibrating the Image

1. Select the Calibrate button from the Backdrop Tools button bar. The Calibrate Image screen will appear.
2. Select the Get From Web button. The Enter Coordinates box will appear.
3. Select the Saved Location from the drop-down list for the point from step#4 in the previous section: Smith Farm NW, for example. Alternately, you may enter the coordinates for the point. Be sure to select Approx. Top Left Corner for the Location of Point option. Click OK to continue.
4. The image will automatically be downloaded from the Internet and will be calibrated with geo-referencing data. The downloaded image covers an area approximately 1.2 miles East and South from the selected point. Note that depending on the download speed of your Internet connection, this process can take anywhere from a minute to several minutes.
5. The map will now be displayed in the Calibrate screen. Select the Save As button to save the image.
6. The Save As box will appear. Enter a name for the file (such as Smith Farm). The program will default to saving the file in the C:\Farmproj\Images\Backdrop folder/directory.
7. Click Save and the image will be saved.
8. Select Exit from the File menu to close out of the Calibrate screen and return to Trac Plus.
   

Loading the Image

1. To display the downloaded image in Trac Plus, select the Load button in the Backdrop Tools. The Load backdrop box will appear.
2. Select the directory in which the calibrated image was saved. This will normally be the C:\Farmproj\Images\Backdrop folder, which is what the program will default to.
3. Select the file from Step #6 from the previous section.
4. Select the Open button to load the image onto the current Active Layer (likely the Main Farming Layer). The scanned map will appear on the screen.
5. If the image does not cover your entire farm, repeat this process, for the next area that is needed.

The USGS Roads & Waterways and the imagery are not perfect and there may be times where the maps do not line up exactly. Normally this is due to one of the maps being shifted. To fix this and make the maps line up:

1. Display the Road & Waterway Layers along with the downloaded imagery.
2. Select the Zoom Tool and zoom in on an intersection of two roads or a road and a ditch that is visible on the imagery.
3. Select the Move button in the Backdrop Tools.
4. Position your cursor over the intersection on the image. Then hold down the left-mouse button until your pointer turns to a hand and drag the image until your cursor is over the same intersection on the USGS roads and waterways.

After all of the images are loaded and lined up with the roads and waterways, you can start drawing and defining your field boundaries on the Main Farming Layer. Fields will typically be drawn using the Multi-Line tool (from the Mapping Tools toolbar). With the Multi-Line tool, you will left-click around the corners of each field to trace the boundary. When the boundary is completely drawn, you can right-click to stop drawing.

Hint: When drawing a boundary it is very important to not leave gaps. Gaps can be caused by not stopping a boundary where it was started. To insure that there are no gaps, turn on the End Point tool by pressing the <e> key on your keyboard before you click on the last corner of the field (the same corner where you started drawing). This will snap the end of the last line to the start of the first line. Pressing the <e> key again will turn off the End Point tool.

Once a field is drawn, it can be defined by selecting the Define Objects tool from the Mapping Tools toolbar and clicking inside the boundary. When this is done, Trac Plus will display the acreage for the field and will ask for details such as the field name, landlord and other important information.