Pick the seasons, build the zones and export what you need.
TerraZoner fetches the seasons for your boundary. Choose a zone method, then let the data draw the lines or set them up yourself. Where the terrain shows a difference, split the lowest-performing zone into wetter and drier ground. Then export a report, a GIS file or a rate map. The free trial runs 7 days, with a Google Meet demo first if you want one.
- Performance Zones RECOMMENDED The field’s usual performance pattern from four or more usable seasons. Works with or without elevation, and with elevation loaded you can refine the poorest zone afterwards.
- Composite Zones Already drawn on the map. Adjust the method and zone count, merge and rename, refine low ground with elevation, or export.
- Landscape Response ADVANCED Productivity by landscape position: wet, dry, slope and hilltop patterns across the field. Needs elevation loaded.
- Terrain-Based Zones Zones from elevation, wetness and slope.
- Data Layer Zones Zones from one uploaded EC, pH, yield or other point layer.
- Weighted Composite Blend loaded layers, each with its own weight, into one map.
One starting point, three ways to build the zones.
Bring in a boundary or draw one, review the seasons, pick a zone method and export the result.
Landscape Response can also be run from Composite or Performance Zones once elevation is loaded.
Start from the field in front of you.
Find the field that sounds like yours.
| The field | The method | What you can say about it |
|---|---|---|
| Four or more usable seasons, and you want the record to draw the lines. | Performance ZonesThe seasons on record pick the lines. | This strip has run below the rest of the field most years, so it's more than one bad season. |
| Two or three usable seasons, or you want to set the lines up yourself. | Composite ZonesYou choose how the lines are drawn and how many zones. | There were only three seasons to go on, so I set the zone count myself. |
| One low zone looks like two kinds of ground. | Terrain refinementSplits the lowest-performing zone into wetter and drier ground. | The low zone splits in two: the wetter run through the middle and the drier knoll. |
| You suspect the lay of the land explains most of what you're seeing. | Landscape ResponseLines up position and performance across the whole field. Needs elevation. | The low ground sits where water tends to collect. The hilltop tends to dry out first. The zones follow that. |
| A storm went through, or the crop looks off and you're not sure where. | In-SeasonThe latest clear scenes, with damage estimates for the ground they can see. | Here's the field after the hail, next to how it looked before, and the acres by how hard each was hit. |
Zones can be merged down to the count you need.
How the seasons you pick become zones.
Start with the seasons.
TerraZoner lists the seasons it finds, back to 2016, fewer on some fields. Each carries a drier, typical or wetter mark when rainfall data is available, and its crop where crop maps cover the field. You pick which go in. A different crop doesn't count against a year, since every year is measured against that season's own average. Drop only a year with something wrong. If two or more crops shared the field, tick Adjust for mixed crops, which appears where crop maps cover the field and stays off until you tick it.
Performance Zones: the record picks the lines.
With four or more usable seasons, every part of the field is compared with the field average. Let the field decide how many zones, or set 2 to 10. Each zone shows how many seasons it ran below, near or above average, and one odd season can only pull the lines so far.
Split the lowest-performing zone into wetter and drier ground.
A low spot that stays wet and a knoll that dries out can land in the same zone. With elevation loaded, a refine preview shows the split before anything changes. If the terrain shows no clear wet or dry pattern, the zone stays as it was.
Landscape Response: position against performance.
Once elevation is loaded, it lines up high ground, low ground and slope against how the field has performed.
Got a survey? Start from that.
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Zones from EC, yield or pH.
Upload the points as a zipped point shapefile and build zones from the survey alone, or cross it with the field's imagery history, wetness or both.
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Blend two layers.
Weighted Composite Zones blends any two loaded layers, such as wetness and EC. One slider sets the balance.
Composite Zones and Performance Zones on one field.
Both use the same imagery and draw the lines differently. Composite Zones works to the count you ask for. Performance Zones compares every acre with the field's own average.
Both stay editable: merge zones, rename them, or refine the lowest one with elevation.
Fix the map by hand.
Merge the odd zone.
A zone map can end up with a small island or a sliver that belongs with its neighbor. Merge it in or reassign it on the map.
Look at the ground in 3D.
Tilt the field and look at the terrain under the zone lines, before a refine pass or to explain a boundary.
Zone maps go out as a shapefile, a report and a Google Earth file.
Export any zone map in these five formats, ready to hand on as it is.
A PDF report that reads on its own.
Anyone can follow it without the app. For Performance and Composite Zones it carries:
- The map, with each zone's range, acres and average.
- What the map is and how it was made, with the zone performance chart.
Open it in Google Earth and click a zone.
Each zone opens its name, acres, share of the field and range. Send the file to a phone with Google Earth and the map is in hand.
- Opens in Google Earth on desktop, web and mobile, and in most GIS software.
A quick rate map, built in.
The zones go into the farm or client management software you already use as a shapefile. For a quick change in the field, set up to six products and type the rate for each zone. The rates are yours. Acres sit beside each rate, and the PDF totals the product to order.
Standard files.
Each one opens outside TerraZoner.
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Shapefile
A standard zipped shapefile of the zones or the rate map, in WGS84, that many farm software platforms and equipment monitors can read. Test it on your own equipment during the free trial.
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GeoTIFF
The zones as a raster for QGIS, ArcGIS and other GIS work.
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KMZ map picture
A picture of the map view for Google Earth.
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Soil sampling (beta).
Place sample points zone by zone on the finished map, track which ones you've visited, and export them as a KML for the GPS and phone apps that read it.
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Project backup.
Save the whole field project as a file you keep, so you can reopen it and adjust later.
Questions about how the zones are drawn.
How many zones will I get?
With Performance Zones, let the field decide or set a number from 2 to 10. Composite Zones draws the number you ask for. With either one, a zone under the minimum size merges into its neighbor.
Which reading do the zones use?
EVI2, by default. NDVI tops out once a crop gets thick, so the best acres can all read the same, and EVI2 keeps telling them apart. NDVI is still available in Composite Zones.
What if a field isn't worth zoning?
Build Performance Zones with “Let the field decide”. An even field can come back as one or two zones, which tells you the ground performs alike. A set number of zones, or Composite Zones, draws the count you ask for whether or not the field has the spread to justify it.
Build zones on a field of your own.
Draw a boundary, build the zones and export them to the software you already use.
Request a free trial See pricing7-day trial, with a Google Meet demo first if you want one. 30-day refund on the first membership payment.