Do you need to map before you spray using a spraying drone?

We get asked a lot why we prefer to map spray areas before we spray them. Today we’ll be delving into when and why you need to map your spray area.

Why do you map an area before spraying? Here’s three important reasons why you should map your area before you spray:

Weed detection

We use drones to spray because it saves money and time. Part of these savings come from only treating the areas that require spraying. Without first mapping the target areas, it can be extremely difficult to accurately create a mission that only sprays the areas that require it. By mapping, we can see exactly where which areas need to be sprayed, and which don't. This maximises efficiency, minimises chemical costs and saves time.

You can also measure the exact amount of spraying you’ll be doing, meaning you can estimate water and chemical requirements much more accurately than using satellite data.

Obstacle avoidance

Drone obstacle avoidance is getting better by the day, with modern drones being able to detect power lines and skinny branches that old spray drones could not. Our experience is that whole obstacle avoidance detects most obstacles, it doesn’t detect them all.

By mapping an area first, you can see the spray area in greater detail and manually flag obstacles that may not be picked up by the drone’s internal obstacle sensor. This makes for safer operations by lowering the risk of crashes even more.

Future reference

A great use for spray maps is using them to record an area over time. Having a map of an area prior to treatment is a great way of showing the effectiveness of the spraying operation. If you go back and map the area after treatment, you can directly compare the two to see the difference you’ve made.

So mapping an area before spraying leads to better results, lower costs and less risk. You also get a visual, georeferenced map that can be used for later reference.

At Field Master Systems, we almost always map areas before spraying. The benefits are clear in terms of planning and efficiency. The only exception to the mapping requirement that we find is when doing flat, blanket spraying in a low obstacle area. Spraying fungicides or fertiliser over a crop such as wheat or corn is a good example where mapping probably won’t offer much benefit. That is, unless you’re doing variable rate application.

What do you think? Do you prefer to map before spraying? Let us know.