by David Dodds
What is GIS?
GIS stands for Geographic Information System. According to ESRI, the largest developer of GIS software, a GIS integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.
Here at Scythe & Spade, GIS has become our own system, called FarmBase™. So what is FarmBase™? It’s a website, it’s mapping software, it’s a spatial analysis tool, it’s an online collaboration platform, it’s a multi-user relational database, it’s a property management system, it’s a regulatory compliance facilitator, and above all, it’s a “what-if?” machine.
We can combine crop histories, soil types, well depths, water rights, and taxes with distances to markets, city centers, developments, rail roads and interstates; then cross-reference with sun, wind and rain data, and finally compare it to multi-spectrum remote sensing. And then we ask, “What if?”
What if we plant this crop? What if we buy this land? What if we sell? What if I change this or that? What if we go here or move there? Where are the markets? Where is the best land for this crop? How close is this? How far is that? The best land? Path of progress? Rental rates? Trends and patterns, or inconsistencies and anomalies?
FarmBase, in a nutshell, is the tool Scythe & Spade will use to answer these questions for our clients; these questions and more. Give us a call, “what if” is our specialty!
Comments