Importing Mr. Sid’s Files into Farm Works

Starting with the 11.3 version of Farm Works software, users now have the ability of importing files in Mr. Sid’s format. Once you have the files saved onto your computer (you will need the sid and sidw file formats), complete the following steps to display the image as a background within your Farm Works project.

  1. In Farm Works, select the Backdrop Tools
  2. Click on the Calibrate button
  3. Click File – Open
  4. Change the “Files of Type” to All Files
  5. Browse to folder containing the .sid file
  6. Select the file and click open
  7. Calibrate will automatically begin to convert the file
  8. After it is converted, select the correct coordinate system and zone (if necessary)
  9. Click File – Save As
  10. Choose the location, select file type of .jpg , enter a file name, and then click Save
  11. Close the Calibrate program.

Loading the converted image:

  1. Select the Load button from backdrop tools.
  2. Locate the file, select it, and click Open.
If your images cover a large area (such as an entire county), you can use the following steps to select part of the image to save.  By doing this, you will cut down the size of the image considerably:

1.  Load the image into Calibrate following the above steps.
2.  Click on the "Select" button.
3.  Position your cursor above and to the left of the part of the map where your farm is located.
4.  Left-click and drag and make a box that surrounds the part of the map that you want to keep (the part where your farm is located).
5.  Click on the "Save Selected As" button.
6.  Enter a name for the file.

You can then load this file into Farm Trac+ or Site or Site Pro using the "Load" button in the "Backdrop Tools".

The steps above will convert the sid & sidw file formats into a .jpg & .ini file formats that Farm Works can use.

Warning: These files can become very large.
Note: If you do not change the file type to .jpg from .tif, the file could be 100 + mb. See below.

Test Data:
3 X 5 mile test section
Download file size(*.zip): 6.9 mb
Sid file size(*.sid): 7.0 mb
Converted file size(*.jpg): 10 mb