Geometry
Confirm field, coordinate reference, boundary, exclusion areas, grid or zone alignment, and intended coverage.
GEOREFERENCED FIELD INSTRUCTIONS
Prescription
Maps
A prescription map assigns a target rate, product, population, depth, or other controllable value to locations or management zones within a field.
01 / Overview
A map can carry
a field decision.
A prescription is the decision layer between observed variability and machine control. It combines field geometry with target values chosen through agronomic analysis, rules, models, experiments, or service recommendations.
The file does not discover the correct rate on its own. It records a decision that must remain interpretable after export, transfer, display, and machine execution.
02 / Workflow
Evidence becomes zones,
zones become targets.
EVIDENCE / 01Spatial layersSoil, yield, imagery, elevation, crop, or scouting data
MODEL / 02Management logicZones, constraints, response assumptions, and economics
PRESCRIBE / 03Target mapProduct and rate attached to field geometry
VERIFY / 04As-applied resultMachine record compared with intended work
03 / Integrity checks
Before the field,
validate the instruction.
Units and products
Verify rate units, product identity, density or concentration assumptions, and machine conversions.
Machine limits
Check minimum, maximum, increments, section width, response time, and default behavior outside mapped areas.
Transfer preview
Inspect the prescription on the receiving terminal before application and retain the original version.
04 / Boundaries
Spatial detail can exceed
decision quality.
More zones are not automatically better.Resolution should reflect evidence quality, management scale, machine response, and economically meaningful variation.
Interpolation creates estimates.Values between samples depend on assumptions and should not be presented as directly observed measurements.
Transfer can change meaning.Units, products, geometry, attribute names, unsupported values, or coordinate handling can shift during conversion.
As-applied is the execution record.The prescription shows intent; machine documentation is needed to evaluate what the system reports it actually applied.
05 / Evidence
Primary sources.
This briefing uses USDA ERS for the map-to-variable-rate information flow and ISO 11783-10 for task-controller and farm-management data interchange. Prescription quality and execution must be validated for the crop, field, software, terminal, and implement.
01
Precision Agriculture in the Digital Era: Recent Adoption on U.S. FarmsUSDA Economic Research Service · Accessed 2026-07-11
02
ISO 11783-10:2015 — Task controller and management information system data interchangeInternational Organization for Standardization · Accessed 2026-07-11