T3RRA 3D Quick Start

T3RRA 3D
http://3d.t3rra.com

Quick Start Guide

Australia USA
559/L2 Ruthven St. P.O. Box 703.
Toowoomba, QLD, 4350. Stuttgart, AR, 72160.

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Release Version 1.0

© 2017 Precision Terrain Solutions Pty Ltd

Notice of Rights
No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language or com-
puter language, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of Precision Terrain Solutions Pty Ltd.

Trademark Notice

Notice of Liability
The information in this courseware title is distributed on an ‘as is’ basis, without warranty. While every precaution has been taken in the prepa-
ration of this course, neither the authors nor PTS shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged
to be caused directly or indirectly by the instructions contained in this book or by the computer software and hardware products described in it.

Disclaimer
We make a sincere effort to ensure the accuracy of the material described herein; however, PTS makes no warranty, expressed or implied, with
respect to the quality, correctness, reliability, accuracy, or freedom from error of this document or the products it describes. Data used in examples
and sample data files are intended to be fictional. Any resemblance to real persons or companies is entirely coincidental.

All information in this manual was correct at the time of writing. PTS reserves the right to make corrections to the courseware at any time and
without notification.

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 3

About PTS ...................................................................................................................................................... 4
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 5
Elevation Layers ........................................................................................................................................... 6
Requirements................................................................................................................................................ 7
The User Interface......................................................................................................................................... 8
Layer Types ................................................................................................................................................. 10
Raw Data ................................................................................................................................................. 10
Surfaces ................................................................................................................................................... 10
Working with Layers ................................................................................................................................... 12
Loading raw data layers. ......................................................................................................................... 12
Loading CSV Files................................................................................................................................. 12
Loading RCD Folders ........................................................................................................................... 14
Combining raw data layers. .................................................................................................................... 16
Filtering raw data layers.......................................................................................................................... 16
Editing raw data layers............................................................................................................................ 17
Edit by Location ................................................................................................................................... 17
Edit by Range ...................................................................................................................................... 18
Surfacing raw data layers. ....................................................................................................................... 19
Viewing surfaces in 3D ............................................................................................................................ 22
Usage Tips ................................................................................................................................................... 24
Random Functionality ................................................................................................................................. 25
Converting John Deere Documentation Logs to CSV .............................................................................. 25
Uploading layer images to MyJohnDeere ............................................................................................... 25
Layer Deleter ....................................................................................................................................... 26
JSONGrid files .......................................................................................................................................... 27
Using T3RRA 3D as a surface display tool ............................................................................................... 27
Adding T3RRA 3D to the John Deere Operations Center ........................................................................ 27
Support ....................................................................................................................................................... 29
Appendix – Collection of elevation data with RTK GPS .............................................................................. 30

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About PTS

Precision Terrain Solutions is a company that specializes in software that allows growers to measure, an-
alyse, and manage their terrain. We have offices in Australia and the USA and we service markets in many
countries around the globe.

Our owners are a mix of farmers and long term agtech service providers. We boast a wealth of precision
ag experience stretching back through three decades.

We create software products that are both simple and powerful. Most importantly, our software adds
real value to our users operations.

Any student of agricultural history can relay the mind boggling improvements in agriculture over the last
century. Over the next 20 years the global population is expect to hit 9 billion. In order to feed and clothe
them farmers are going to need to shift to yet another higher gear. PTS wants to be a key partner in this
grand and vital challenge.

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Introduction

T3RRA 3D is a web-based tool for visualizing and creating maps of field topography.

Electronic maps of field topography (elevations, heights) are often referred to as Digital Elevation Mod-
els (DEMs).

DEMs can reveal much about a field. The nature of a field’s topography often affects:

Crop row direction & tractor travel direction

Positioning of erosion control structures and earthworks
Layout of drains
Explanation of crop growth and yield patterns
Suitability for various irrigation options

In the modern era of precision GPS, Auto-steer tractors, and farm drones, farmers have more options
than ever before to map and examine their field topography. In many case farmers may be collecting good
quality elevation data and not even realize it. It is the aim of this software to provide an easy tool to allow
farmers to begin to examine their fields with an aim to improving their management and profitability.

This quick start manual has been developed to provide a basic understanding of how to use T3RRA 3D.

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Elevation Layers

There are several different forms of Digital Elevation Model (DEM). T3RRA 3D is designed to work with
“raster” DEMs. A raster based model represents spatial data (heights in this case) as a grid of rows and col-
umns. Each cell (pixel) in the grid represents a location on the map. The value of the cell is the height at that
location. When displayed, the height of a cell is shown by painting the cell with a corresponding color.

In T3RRA 3D the default is that higher parts of a field are colored blue, and lower parts are colored red.

Raster maps are termed “surfaces” because they provide a continuous cover over the area of interest.

T3RRA 3D can load surfaces (in the form of .jsongrid files) directly. However, it is not common for eleva-
tion data to be initially collected as surfaces. Usually, elevation data in fields is collected by performing an
elevation survey. A survey like this normally consists of many individual “spot height” measurements. The
resultant map is not a continuous surface, but a collection of many disconnected ‘dots’ each of which repre-
sents the height at the location of the ‘dot’.

T3RRA 3D is able to transform these ‘dot’ maps (termed “Raw Data”) into continuous surface maps. It
does this by a process known as “interpolation”. The missing areas between the discrete locations are filled
in by referencing the surrounding values and estimating the missing values.

As part of the process of creating surfaces T3RRA 3D allows raw survey data to be loaded. Tools are then
provided to clean and filter this data before finally turning the raw data into surface.

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Requirements

As a browser based application, T3RRA 3D has greater speed and memory limitations than a native desk-
top application. However it has been extensively tested with fields hundreds of acres in size and we think
you will be pleasantly surprised by its performance.

We recommend the following minimum requirements for using T3RRA 3D:

A modern Internet Browser: ie., Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 11
Minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or higher
Pop-ups enabled
JavaScript enabled

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The User Interface

When you first navigate to T3RRA 3D (http://3d.t3rra.com) in your browser you will see the below
window. In the center of the page is a dialog window that displays a brief slideshow of the main features of
T3RRA 3d. After you have clicked through the slideshow you can close this window. If you do not wish to see
this presentation again you may uncheck the box “Show this intro on start”. You can show this window again
by clicking the icon at any time.

After closing the introductory window you will be presented with the main application page. The main
features on this page are the layer listing at left and the map view at right.

The layer listing displays all map layers that have been loaded or created by the application. All layers
can be displayed within the map view. Each layer entry contains a number of controls that can be used to
perform actions relating to that particular layer.

The layer listing is divided into two sections. These two sections represent the two basic types of layer
that are used in T3RRA 3D – “Raw Data” & “Surfaces”.

The map view provides a graphic overview of the layers which are present and visible. The map view dis-
plays the available layers overlain on a satellite imagery background in order to give spatial context to the
layers.

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Layer Types

Raw Data

Raw data layers are considered a ‘preliminary’ data layer in T3RRA 3D. That is, the ability to load and
display them is provided only so that the user can filter, edit, combine, and surface them in order to create
surfaces. For this reason each Raw Data entry contains a toolbar with functionality useful for this purpose.

A Raw Data entry in the layer list will look like the below:

As well as containing the layer name and an opacity slider it contains a list of clickable icons. The func-
tions of which are shown below. Note that the results of some operations (filtering, editing, surfacing) result
in a new layer being created. This may be confusing for a new user. For instance if a data set is imported
that contains data from two fields it may be useful to edit the layer to deleted the data from the unwanted
field. However this will not delete the edited layer. Instead it keeps the layer with both fields AND creates a
new layer which only contains the data from the desired field. At this point it may be useful to delete the
original raw data layer.

Filter the raw data. This function is only available on data downloaded directly from the
John Deere Operations Center. You can filter the data based on a variety of included attrib-
utes. Note: if the data does not contain different attributes then this tool will not show.
Edit the raw data. You can delete sections if the data if they are outside your field of in-
terest or represent erroneous data.
Create a surface from this data layer.
Upload an image of this raw data layer to the John Deere Operations Center.
Zoom the current extents of the map view to the extents of this data layer.
Delete the current layer.

Surfaces

Visualizing elevation surfaces is the main purpose of T3RRA 3D. Surfaces can either be loaded directly,
or created from Raw Data layers.

To load a surface from disk select the icon from the surfaces layer list toolbar. Currently, surface
files must be in the JSONGrid format (*.jsongrid).

A Surface entry in the layer list will look like the below:

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As well as containing the layer name and an opacity slider it contains a list of clickable icons. The func-
tions of which are shown below.

Show the surface in 3D

Download the surface in JSONGrid format (can be reloaded whenever required)
Upload an image of this surface layer to the John Deere Operations Center.
Zoom the current extents of the map view to the extents of this data layer.
Delete the current layer.

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Working with Layers

Loading raw data layers.

T3RRA 3D can currently handle raw data layers from two separate sources. Use the icons on the Raw Da-
ta toolbar to import.

Download RCD folders (Documentation logs) directly from the MyJohnDeere Operations
Center. User account required.
Open CSV files from your local hard drive.

In both instances the process is largely mediated by a wizard-like interface.

Loading CSV Files

CSV files (Comma Separated Variable files) are text files that must contain (at a minimum) columns of
data for Latitude, Longitude, and Elevation. The exact format of the file can vary as the import interface will
map the necessary columns as needed.

After clicking the CSV icon a dialog window will appear prompting you to enter one or more files. You
may drag files into this window, or click in the designated region to open files directly.

After reading the files the import dialog will give you a variety of options regarding the file. You can
change these to suit the particular nature of your file(s).
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Automatic detection of columns is attempted. Check that these are as expected.

You will be shown a preview of the data you are importing. When the results look satisfactory press the
“Import” button.

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Loading RCD Folders

GreenStar data is stored in a folder structure. In the ‘Files’ section of MyJohnDeere these folders are
zipped up into a single compressed file. They are of type ‘Doc’. We refer to this data by various names in-
cluding “RCD Folders”, “Documentation Logs”, and “Doc files”. All refer to the same thing.

RCD folders can be downloaded by T3RRA 3D. Because these logs are stored in compressed format they
are unzipped and extracted as part of the import process. This process is similar to what you would normally
perform when unloading a data card from a GreenStar Display in APEX (and it takes just as long!).

You must have valid credentials for MyJohnDeere in order to access data from this source. After you
click on the icon you will be taken to MyJohnDeere. Enter your credentials and authorize T3RRA 3D to

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access your files. You should only need to perform this authorization once. You should be automatically redi-
rected back to T3RRA 3D and a list of available organizations will be displayed.

Select the organization (if there is more than 1 available) your data is associated with and then you will
automatically retrieve a list of files available. If you don’t see the correct organization in the list you may
want to choose the “Relogin to MyJohnDeere” button to login as a different user.

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Select the files you want to download. As a given operation for a field may result in multiple logs being
stored in the Operations Center you may need to select multiple files. Given the nature of browsers and the
slow speed of RCD extraction you should avoid selecting too many files. When you are ready press the “Im-
port” button and your download will commence.

Combining raw data layers.

Sometimes the data for a single field may be held in separate files or logs. T3RRA 3D allows you to im-
port these logs together in a single action. If you do so they will be combined into a single data layer entry.
Alternatively, you can import/load them separately and they will appear as separate data layer entries. Sep-
arate raw data layers can be combined into a new raw data layer by selecting the check boxes of the layers
to be combines and then pressing the “Edit” icon on the Raw Data Layers toolbar. Both data layers will then
be added to the Layer Edit dialog window. Regardless of whether or not any editing takes place, upon press-
ing ‘Done’ the combined data set will be saved to a new Raw Data layer entry.

Filtering raw data layers.

Data from John Deere Documentation logs (RCD folders) often contain a variety of useful attributes. By
using the filter functionality you can winnow your raw data down using these. By selecting or unselecting the
checkboxes you can keep or remove parts of your data set. Not that these attributes are often operator en-
tered and the usefulness and accuracy of these depends on the diligence of the operator who created them.

Click on the “Filter” button when done and a new layer with the filtered results in it will be created. You
may then need to do further editing with the “Edit” button.

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Editing raw data layers.

When you choose to edit a Raw Data layer you are presented with two separate methods for deleting
unwanted data. Swap between these two methods by selecting the appropriate tab at the top of the win-
dow.

Edit by Location

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This method is best used when you have points in your data set that are not within the field of interest.
Sometimes data sets will include data from outside the field because logging was not turned off when an
operation was complete. Often you will find data from a “field” back at the machinery shed!

There are a variety of tools in this window displayed along the bottom of the map that allow you to se-
lect and delete groups of data points. Note that sometimes it is more convenient to select the data points
you want to keep, and then invert your selection.

Because of the vast number of points in some data sets we do not always display all of the available
points. This can sometimes result in odd situations. By default this window will open at a map extent that
attempts to display all available points. If there is an extreme outlier and it happens to randomly fall
amongst the non-displayed points this can be confusing as you won’t know exactly where the outlier is. This
is one case where you can select the area you want to keep, and then invert your selection, in order to select
the outlier(s).

Edit by Range

This method is best when your data contains values that are anomalously high or low. By viewing the
height values as a histogram you are able to pull the slider bars and exclude values outside the desired
range. Often the presence of a high or low error point will be indicated by a large section of your data being
displayed as either red or blue and then one or two points being the opposite color. This occurs because the
color scale is stretched over the entire range of values in a linear fashion. When there are one or more
points with extreme values, the majority of the points will all be grouped together in a tight bundle in one
narrow part of the color scale. As soon as you remove the outlier your normal color scale will return.

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Surfacing raw data layers.

Once you have cleaned your raw data (if required) you are ready to turn that layer into a surface layer.
(Note that you can merge raw layers into one surface by selecting multiple Raw Data layers and then using
the ‘surface’ button on the raw data toolbar rather than any of those on individual Raw Data layers).

Pressing on the ‘surface’ button the following dialogue will open:

surface dialogue

The search radius displayed is automatically calculated and should be roughly 3 times the swath width at
which the data was collected. After clicking on ‘Surface’ the surface will be created. This can take a while
(depending on the amount of data). A smaller search radius will increase the calculation speed but also
might lead to holes remain in the surface

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Figure 1 Raw data points

Figure 2 Surfaced at 12m

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Figure 3 Surfaced at 24m

Figure 4 Surfaced at 36m

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generated surface

Viewing surfaces in 3D

By clicking on the icon in a Surface Layer entry in the layer list you will load the 3D Viewer of T3RRA
3D. You will then be able to view a 3D version of your field topography.

Use the vertical scale exaggeration button in order to better define topographic features.

Use the water simulation to visualize the flow of water in the field.

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Usage Tips

Web browsers are much better than they used to be, but they still suffer performance and memory
problems if pushed hard enough. T3RRA 3D pushes pretty hard! As a result you may find yourself seeing
messages like the following. Normally you can hit the wait button and the operation you have requested will
continue without problem.

Occasionally you may hit the browser memory limits and crash the browser. The good news is that we
have implemented a local backup solution whereby upon reload your data should all still be present. When
you reload the page, or restart the browser, you should see a message like the below. If you want to contin-
ue where you left off press ‘Yes’.

Paradoxically a crash is sometimes a good thing as it will cause the application to perform better due to
memory being cleared.

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Random Functionality

Converting John Deere Documentation Logs to CSV

In the Raw Data Edit dialog window there is a button “Download CSV” . Using this
button causes a text file to be downloaded to your local hard drive containing a comma separated list of all
the data points present in the window. This can be useful for use in other mapping programs, or for analys-
ing in a program like Microsoft Excel.

Uploading layer images to MyJohnDeere

T3RRA 3D allows you upload images of both raw data layers and surface to the MyJohnDeere Operations
Center. Doing this allows you to compare you elevation to other layers you have in the Operations Center.
For instance you could compare elevation to yield in order to understand how topography and drainage is
affecting yield.
After clicking the icon you will be asked to nominate both an organization and a field to assign the
map to. The upload will then occur and you will be prompted to visit MyJohnDeere to view it.

If you are logged in to the Operations Center you will be deep linked directly to the Field Analyzer sec-
tion with the elevation map displayed. If you are not logged in you will be transferred to the login page and
then will need to manually navigate to the Field Analyzer to view the map.

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Layer Deleter

The Operations Center currently has no way to remove layers from MyJohnDeere once you have added
them. To handle this we have created a separate app called “Layer Deleter”. This can be found at
http://layerdeleter.t3rra.com/ . This is a simple wizard-like interface that will prompt you for the information
needed to delete a layer that you have uploaded.

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JSONGrid files

A JSONGrid contains an elevation grid with meta data in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). The meta da-
ta information relates to the geographic position of the grid, and a color pallet for display. Gridded data is
used because raw GPS data points are not distributed evenly. In some places you will find many measured
points and in others none. The JSONGrid includes a fixed number of rows and columns and is created by in-
terpolation of the GPS data.

By downloading your created surfaces as JSONGrid files you can use them in other software. Precision
Terrain Solutions use the format extensively. You can consume and create JSONGrids in our T3RRA Design
software. JSONGrids are also the standard input for the T3RRA Drains app (http://drains.t3rra.com).

Using T3RRA 3D as a surface display tool

Because T3RRA 3D is web based, it is an excellent tool for sharing data, designs, and ideas with others. It
will currently display a surface from any software tool that will create a JSONGrid DEM. For this reason you
may wish to request that your service provider supplies you with elevation layers in JSONGrid format in or-
der for you to quickly and easily view them.

Adding T3RRA 3D to the John Deere Operations Center

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In order to link directly to T3RRA 3D from the Operations Center a request has to be to the MyJohnDeere
API Dev Support team. Once the link has been made a T3RRA 3D icon will appear in your Operations Center
tools listing. This will allow you to visit T3RRA 3D directly from the Operations Center.

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Support

For technical support email pts@pts-ag.com

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Appendix – Collection of elevation data with RTK GPS

With the advent of RTK GPS based AutoSteer systems farmers have found themselves equipped with
precision survey equipment previously only found in the hands of surveyors or civil engineers.

All GPS units collect location in the form of Latitude, Longitude, and Altitude. As long as this data is being
logged during field operations it can be used to create elevation maps. The beauty of this is that the data
comes at essentially no cost to the farmer.

Experience has shown that doing elevation surveys independent of other operations tend to produce
better outcomes. However, with care it is quite possible to use elevation data from operations like tillage or
planting. This is particularly true if the analysis is only meant to be exploratory in nature. After all, if prelimi-
nary investigations show that action is warranted then it is always possible to perform a dedicated survey to
fine tune any earthworks.

Here are some general tips to improve elevation surveys.

 Use a vehicle where the GPS-to-ground offset will remain constant. ie., a tractor, truck or ATV -
not a harvester or self-propelled sprayer that will shift vertically depending on load.
 If the field you are surveying has wheel ruts then either stay in them or stay out of them. Do not
alternate between them.
 Do not survey in fields where there will be variable wheel sinkage - ie., if part of the field is wet
and part is dry.
 Trace the course of any water ways and banks you want to include in the elevation model. As
well of the centerlines of such features, you should also drive the shoulders.
 Ensure that your base station is within 1.5 miles (2km) of the area you are surveying
 Areas that exhibit a rapid change in slope will need to be surveyed more intensely.
 Save your data whenever practical during the course of the survey.
 Survey at a slow enough speed such that the vehicle does not rock or bounce measurably.

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