Global Map Layers

Global Map Layers can be added to your FarmQA account to supply spatial data to allow for better and more informed management decisions to be made. You can use Global Map Layers to view datasets that span across multiple fields to view trends across your entire operation. This step-by-step will demonstrate how to create Global Map Layers by adding a polygon that shows total annual rainfall for North Dakota and western Minnesota. You can follow along by downloading the nodak rain.zip attachment. 

Instructions

1. Log in to your FarmQA account from the web app.
2. Click on the "Settings" tab in the bottom left-hand corner screen, then click over to the "Map Layers" tab.
3. Click "add layer" or the blue plus button in the bottom left to create a new layer. Then fill out the Name and Description boxes. In this case, our layer is named "Rainfall" with the description "Total Rainfall in North Dakota from 09/2020-09/2021". Once you've filled this information out, click on the Save Icon to save your map layer (pictured below).
4. You can turn on your new Global Map Layer by navigating back to the "Map" tab, clicking the sidebar arrow, and selecting the box next to the name of your map under the GLOBAL MAP LAYERS header. There is no data in our map layer currently; we can add data by clicking on the  Edit  icon (pictured below).
5.  Drag the zipped folder containing your shapefile into the Edit layer window to upload the shapefile you want to use for your Global Data Layer. The name of the folder ("nodak rain" in this case) will automatically fill in for the name of this polygon within your map layer.
   • NOTE: Map layers can be uploaded as shapefiles (.shp, .shx, .dbf), KML/KMZ, or GeoTiff fileClicking on the box next to our Global Map Layer will draw the layer on our map (Step 4). In this example, the shapefile has been drawn with a single color instead of having a color scale based on total rainfall values (below). To fix this, we need to edit the Style of the image layer. Access this by clicking the icon next to the layer name in the Maps pane, then clicking the again on the map layer in the Edit layer window (see below).
6. Under the Style dropdown menu, select the Custom option. Under Attribute, select the factor you want to draw your map layer based on (VALUE in this case). Select the Colors you want to use, and then Save once you've completed these steps (pictured below).
7. Our map layer has now been updated and is properly displaying rainfall data across North Dakota and western Minnesota.

NOTE:

• Global Map Layers must be submitted as shapefiles (.shp, .shx, .dbf), KML/KMZ, or GeoTiff files. They must be in a zipped folder or they will not be uploaded.
• Files cannot exceed a file size of 25 megabytes (MB).
• Larger files/datasets may take a long time to render and cause longer lag times.

Please contact FarmQA Support with any further questions