Abstract
CROPCAST™ is a special purpose, geographically referenced, information system that is being applied to operational global crop inventory. The CROPCAST system utilizes a two level geobased grid /cell coordinate system that is referenced to a cylindrical Mercator projection with earth intersections at 300N and 300 S, which provides equal area coverage with minimum distortion for the 600N to 600S primary agricultural regions. Diagnostic and predictive models operating on remote sensing data from resource satellites, ground-based meteorological stations, physical and statistical data bases offer dynamic information grid/cell updates at 6 hourly and 24 hourly intervals. Predictive models extend the dynamic information updates on a daily basis to nay future day. Diagnostic and predictive information updates include: crop growth stage, root dynamics, soil moisture profiles, crop stress, physiological factors, yield changes, crop condition etc. The system is operational on PRIME Model 550 with 332 B bytes of disc, two tape drives and a Printronix printer. Interactive capabilities are provided using a Grinnel interactive color system and various standard CRT's. Mapped output with thematic depictions are displayed either at the CRT's or via the Printronix. The CROPCAST system has been in daily operation since 1977 over major areas of the agricultural world.
Date of this Version
1981