Data acquisition for precision agriculture and land representation

The course aims at providing disciplinary and professional skills on techniques and technologies for precision agriculture. In particular, the course aims at enabling students to make use of information technology and data coming from different sources, such as satellite positioning (GNSS) data, remote sensing and proximal data gathering, for developing the skills needed to directly act for optimising farm practices, increasing efficiency of input use, and reducing environmental impacts. Furthermore, the students will be able to navigate, via the internet, and perform with extreme simplicity, the “visura ipo-catastale”, integrating the map data, the Land and Building Cadaster, by integrating Web-GIS technology and cadastral mapping (PREGEO and DOCFA software).

Lectures (28 hours) and exercises (28 hours). 

If teaching is given in a mixed formula or remotely, necessary changes may be introduced to what was previously stated in order to comply with the provided and reported syllabus.

To guarantee equal opportunities and in compliance with the laws in force, interested students can ask for a personal interview in order to plan any compensatory and/or dispensatory measures, based on the didactic objectives and specific needs. It is also possible to contact the CInAP (Center for Active and Participatory Inclusion - Services for Disabilities and / or SLDs) referents of the Department (prof.ssa Anna De Angelis).

Useful knowledge on cartography.

Recommended.

The course is grouped into macro-modules as indicated below.

Geodesy and Cartography: definition of geodesy and cartography, geoid models, Earth’s Shape and size, Reference systems, Projections, geographic coordinates, Map projections, Concept of Cartographic Projection, Classification of Cartographic Projections, Representation of Land on Map, Concept of Map, Purpose and Significance of Maps, Classification of Maps, UTM Projection, UTM Grid.

Cartographic process and Topography: Basic Principles of Topography; Topographic instruments, Global position system (GPS), Aerial Photogrammetric Imagery and Satellite Systems and Images, Satellite Systems and Images, Global Navigation Satellite Systems, Global Positioning System, GLONASS, The Role of GPS Navigation and Measurements, LIDAR—A Method of Remote Surveillance and Examination of Earth’s Surface by Scanning, Use of LIDAR, Computer Programs or Digital Atlases Using Satellite Imagery, Conventional construction of a topographic map.

IT systems and GIS: definition of Geographic Information Systems (GIS); Uses of GIS, GIS applications; data representation models (vector modeling and raster modeling); input and management of attributes; territorial data sources and input; georeferencing; digital terrain models (DTM); Web / GIS applications for precision agriculture.

QGIS software: definition of opensource systems, software installation, software requirements. The interface: Menu Bar, Panels and Toolbars, Map View, Status Bar. Managing Data Source: Opening Data, Creating Layers and Exploring Data Formats and Fields. Working with Vector Data: The Vector Properties Dialog, Working with the Attribute Table, Working with Raster Data, Raster Analysis. Layout. Query. Print composition. Coordinate Reference System Selector, Custom Coordinate Reference System, Default datum transformations. WMS and WFS geoservices. Plugins.

The cadastre: introduction to the cadastre. The cartographic archive, The Land Cadastre archive, The Urban Building Cadastre archive, The urban real estate stock, The real estate urban units plans archive, The archive of buildings, The evolution of the technological infrastructure, The PREGEO (PREGEO software - latest versions available) procedure for Land Cadastre, The DOCFA (DOCFA software - latest versions available) procedure for Urban Building Cadastre, The main cadastre and cartographic project activities, the valuation system of the urban building cadastre, the valuation system of the land cadastre,

Exercises

GIS exercise: data analysis for carrying out thematic maps on livestock sector.

DOCFA procedure exercises: DOCFA procedure.

PREGEO procedure exercises: PREGEO procedure.