Telling location, object and treated object apart
The treatment location describes where a plant protection measure takes place. This includes the geographic or administrative location and the size or extent of the location. In DiPAgE, this location is managed together with the respective crop and cultivation context as a reusable object.
The “treated object”, by contrast, describes the portion of the measure that was actually treated. An object can, for example, be a 10 ha field, while in a specific application only 4 ha are treated. The object then stays 10 ha in size; the treated object of this individual measure comprises 4 ha.
How an object is delimited
As a rule, an object is a contiguous area of the same crop species or – if the conditions are met – the same crop group. In agricultural crops, the sub-field (Teilschlag) is the smallest common observation unit. Different varieties of the same crop species do not, in themselves, lead to separate objects.
For reuse in DiPAgE, the associated year also plays a role alongside location and crop. An object should therefore be created anew for a new crop or application year. Existing details can be used as a starting point and saved with a changed year as a new partial record.
Which location reference is used
DiPAgE supports different kinds of location referencing, including coordinates, cadastral parcel identifiers (Flurstückskennzeichen), InVeKoS references, area geometries, and special reference options for railway tracks, forestry areas and paths. Depending on the reference chosen, the details required for it are requested.
If an InVeKoS reference from an area application exists for a treated area, it is in principle to be used with priority. In Germany the referencing is done via the FLIK. Depending on the federal state, additional details such as field or sub-field number may be required for unambiguous assignment. If there is no InVeKoS reference, the other forms of georeferencing provided for in the data standard can be used.
Several location references for the same object
Several location references can be stored for the same object if needed. This can be useful, for example, if a FLIK is not yet available at the time of documentation and another reference, such as coordinates, is used first. The FLIK can be added later.
It is important that several references always describe the same object in different ways. The function is not intended to combine several separate locations in a single object.
InVeKoS map function
For suitable location references, DiPAgE supports input via a map view. Coordinates or areas can be selected spatially this way, instead of entering all details completely by hand.
Official InVeKoS objects including their area geometries are currently only available in the DiPAgE map for North Rhine-Westphalia. Areas in other federal states can therefore currently not be selected from the map as InVeKoS objects in the same way. The location data can nevertheless be documented there via the input options provided.
Saving and reusing objects
Frequently used locations or objects can be saved as partial data. The same location and crop information then does not have to be entered completely again for every plant protection product application. This is particularly helpful for regularly treated fields, installations or farm areas.
When changes are made, you should check whether the same object is still being described or whether a new object has to be created – for example for a new year or a changed crop.
The Object Manager as the control center
The Object Manager brings together the saved objects and their most recent plant protection product applications. From there, objects can be selected, combined for multiple applications, and existing protocols opened specifically.
The Object Manager is also a particularly safe way to jump to a specific plant protection product record in the “Protocols” area. This is helpful, for example, if a record is to be edited or deleted, or if an existing application is used as a template for a new record.