In recent years, especially in the last decade, the number of scientific and
technical organizations and publications dedicated to geoinformatics applications
in agriculture have exponentially increased. The IEEE International Geoscience and
Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) held an agro-geoinformatics special and
invited sessions in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Since 2012, the International Conference
on Agro-Geoinformatics has been organized annually and sponsored by the IEEE
GRSS and major agricultural organizations, such as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA); agriculture ministries in China, Turkey, and Canada; the USDA
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS); the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science; Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations; and
the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), as well as the major international
geospatial standardization organization, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).
All these activities represent an interest of a worldwide research community in agrogeoinformatics.
The book Agro-geoinformatics: Theory and Practices presents both fundamental
topics and some state-of-the-art practical solutions in agro-geoinformatics. It covers
geoinformation and cadastral data used in agricultural management, data collection,
processing, fusion, visualization, information access, agricultural sustainability, crop
monitoring, assessment, prediction, precision farming, and the integrated management systems.
Statistics show that efficiency management and sustainability of resources have
become key factors in agricultural production. The rise in food demand is estimated
to be around 50% in the next 30 years, while arable land per capita continuously
decreases. Due to the increasing demand for meat, total meat production has
increased approximately 100% in the last 30 years. The global average of the
water footprint of meat for beef is more than 15,000 liters of water per 1 kg of
beef, and for sheep meat 10,000 liters per 1 kg. The world’s cereal yield index has
also increased by 38% in the last 30 years to meet the increase in food demand. This
has been achieved by using more fertilizers, pesticides, and water besides the
dissemination of good agricultural practices. There are physical, health, and sustainability limitations for fertilizer, pesticide, and water use per unit area. On the other
hand, there is still a margin for increasing the overall efficiency in food production
by preserving sustainability. For this purpose, precision farming, vertical farming,
and data-driven science-based management of agricultural resources, integrated
logistics, irrigation, subsidy, and integrated food supply chain are becoming key
issues. They all need data, optimization, and integration. Therefore, monitoring
systems, information systems, and their integration are significant in peacefully
balancing the food demand for the next 30 years.
Recent developments in communication, information, and sensor technologies
will also be able to provide several game-changing applications in agriculture. For
example, the Narrowband Internet of Things (IoT), known as NB-IoT, is a communication standard that promises the connection of battery-operated monitoring and
control devices at fields up to 10 years without requiring any specific infrastructure
other than existing cellular networks. The convolutional neural network algorithms
provide high-performance solutions for the classification, data registration, image
2
L. Di and B. Üstündağ
technical organizations and publications dedicated to geoinformatics applications
in agriculture have exponentially increased. The IEEE International Geoscience and
Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) held an agro-geoinformatics special and
invited sessions in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Since 2012, the International Conference
on Agro-Geoinformatics has been organized annually and sponsored by the IEEE
GRSS and major agricultural organizations, such as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA); agriculture ministries in China, Turkey, and Canada; the USDA
National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS); the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science; Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations; and
the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), as well as the major international
geospatial standardization organization, the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).
All these activities represent an interest of a worldwide research community in agrogeoinformatics.
The book Agro-geoinformatics: Theory and Practices presents both fundamental
topics and some state-of-the-art practical solutions in agro-geoinformatics. It covers
geoinformation and cadastral data used in agricultural management, data collection,
processing, fusion, visualization, information access, agricultural sustainability, crop
monitoring, assessment, prediction, precision farming, and the integrated management systems.
Statistics show that efficiency management and sustainability of resources have
become key factors in agricultural production. The rise in food demand is estimated
to be around 50% in the next 30 years, while arable land per capita continuously
decreases. Due to the increasing demand for meat, total meat production has
increased approximately 100% in the last 30 years. The global average of the
water footprint of meat for beef is more than 15,000 liters of water per 1 kg of
beef, and for sheep meat 10,000 liters per 1 kg. The world’s cereal yield index has
also increased by 38% in the last 30 years to meet the increase in food demand. This
has been achieved by using more fertilizers, pesticides, and water besides the
dissemination of good agricultural practices. There are physical, health, and sustainability limitations for fertilizer, pesticide, and water use per unit area. On the other
hand, there is still a margin for increasing the overall efficiency in food production
by preserving sustainability. For this purpose, precision farming, vertical farming,
and data-driven science-based management of agricultural resources, integrated
logistics, irrigation, subsidy, and integrated food supply chain are becoming key
issues. They all need data, optimization, and integration. Therefore, monitoring
systems, information systems, and their integration are significant in peacefully
balancing the food demand for the next 30 years.
Recent developments in communication, information, and sensor technologies
will also be able to provide several game-changing applications in agriculture. For
example, the Narrowband Internet of Things (IoT), known as NB-IoT, is a communication standard that promises the connection of battery-operated monitoring and
control devices at fields up to 10 years without requiring any specific infrastructure
other than existing cellular networks. The convolutional neural network algorithms
provide high-performance solutions for the classification, data registration, image
2
L. Di and B. Üstündağ