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Research on Mobile Mapping System and its Application in Precision Agriculture Wang Ping, Liu Xiang-nan, Huang Fang College of Urban and Environmental Science, Northeast Normal University, Chang Chun, 130024 1. Introduction Mobile Mapping System is an information technology that has been developed since late 1980s with the advance and progress in mobile positioning technology, modern communication technology, spatial information technology and embedded technology, etc. Integrating diversiform advanced technologies above-mentioned, Mobile Mapping System is capable of real time data accessing, mapping,and spatial data visualization. Mobile Mapping System not only collects dynamic data about some object in moving, but also manipulates these data in order to make decision efficiently, and make these data be downloaded into a desktop GIS simultaneously by wireless or wire communication as you like. Now Mobile Mapping System has been applied in many fields, such as intelligent transport, precision agriculture, field surveying and environment engineering and so on for outstanding real time supply is very essential in these fields and Mobile Mapping System can do. Precision agriculture (precision farming, digital agriculture) has evolved from a concept ten years ago into an emerging technology today. Its basic purpose is to manage farmland by the square meter instead of the square mile. It is certain that precision agriculture can be described as the next great evolution in agriculture. With Mobile Mapping System, every inch soil can be monitor and planting data in detail can be acquired anywhere anytime. How to use Mobile Mapping System in Precision Agriculture will be also discussed in this paper, 2. Mobile Mapping System Configuration Mobile Mapping System consists generally of three parts, that is moving platform, navigation sensors and mapping sensors. Its configuration can be described as follow (figure 1).  Figure 1 Mobile Mapping System Configuration The mobile platform is designed to equip data acquisition devices including mapping sensors and positioning apparatus. It may be a land vehicle, a vessel, or an aircraft. Thus the system can observe objects at closer range flexibly. Generally, Mobile Mapping System monitor objects by CCD cameras, video cameras, laser scanners and radar sensors. These mapping sensors are selected according by purpose, but they must obtain high flexibility in data acquisition, more information with less time and effort, and high productivity. Of course GPS (Global Positioning System) must be connected at the same time in order to record the position and time. Mobile Mapping System is essentially useless without GPS. GPS is developed and initiated by the United States of America. The system has capability of navigation and positioning anywhere on earth, anytime, and under any conditions. Since SA (Selective Availability) was permanently turned off at midnight May 1, 2000, the accuracy of GPS data has been increase. And differential GPS techniques can help to obtain high positional accuracies. In addition, vehicle wheel sensors and INS (Inertial Navigation System) are important navigation instruments, too. Integrating with GPS, they can provide both the track of the vehicle and position and orientation information of the mapping sensors. All these data acquisition devices can get plenty useful attribute information. The information will be edited and geo-referenced, then stored in the Spatial Database. Geo-reference process is very necessary because these data will be integrated with other information from multi-sources. Field data collection is always a difficulty for cartographers, surveyors and researchers. The tools available for mapping applications have been bulky in size and weight, expensive, and difficult to learn for a long time. Fortunately, the advances of remote sensing, GPS technology, GIS and some data edit and analysis software drive the field data collection. The advance refers not only precision has been improved, but also the hardware has become smaller, lighter, and cheaper. And the software has become easier to learn, and more inexpensive. So the data collection task becomes easier, more economical and faster to complete. Mobile terminals should be another important component of Mobile Mapping System. Spatial data can be displayed, edited, or analyzed with them. There are different terminals that can finish such task. They are PDA, Mobile telephones, and Land Phones. These handheld equipments can exchange data with desktop PC via serial or USB ports, and some can do this by Internet access. In many cases, Mobile Mapping System is equipped on vehicle, and above functions can be done on PC. Whatever terminals can interchange data with GPS data, and access data from long-distance database by Internet or wireless communication equipment. So the works need the support of modern communication technologies.
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