Free High-Tech Irrigation Maps

Easy Irrigation Maps    

grassmd@gmail.com

Now, I know what you're thinking and no, you're not going to be drawing golf holes on a piece of paper and using colored pencils to shade in the fairways. This is a very FREE solution to a very commonly expensive problem. Now, if your course was built some time ago and, you're stuck with incredibly inaccurate maps this is going to be music to your ears. This solution is highly portable meaning, you can use it on your smartphone (apple or droid doesn't matter) in real time.

The Problem

When some of our golf courses were built there weren't a whole lot of satellites in the sky....or any for some. Designers and contractors had to do their best to give a relative description of where infrastructure was located. These maps were often rough sketches drawn out by hand or even a little more sophisticated ones printed out on very large pieces of paper (not very portable). 

Old Irrigation Map

If you have a map like this (above) one you probably have a hard time relating the information on the map to what is actually out in the field. This can be very frustrating when trying to locate wires, main lines, and valve boxes. Even more frustrating is when the map doesn't even look like the hole (the map above is a dog leg left).

Finished Product in Google Earth

Last year, I took on a project to map all the irrigation heads on a course. Maps that were dated offered little help because, the lack of detail and the inability to update them. I turned to Google Earth, from there I spent a good amount of time building each hole, making heads and stations numbers, fairway outlines, perimeters, measuring greens, and even measuring fairways. This was definitely a classic example of a project that mushroomed....very quickly.

These two pictures (above and below) are the final product of what can be achieved. This on its own is a massive step forward for golf courses that are using "old irrigation maps".  Location of heads give any superintendent using a computerized system a more efficient way of tailoring the irrigation system.

Zoomed in View

Starting the Project

The first step:

The first step and probably the most important one, is figuring out what information you want to collect and put on a map. For superintendents in the south that are thinking about doing something like this, map anything burmudagrass will grow over and you don't want to lose. Best examples would be valve boxes, QCs, wire boxes and so on.

Field Map Of Heads 

On my example (Above), I only mapped (hand drawn points) irrigation heads for the sake of time. Looking back, it would have been nice to have included a few examples from above such as those valve boxes and drainage inlets. There is always a chance for a 2.0 version!

The Second Step:

After all your points have been drawn on your field copy you are ready to input them in to Google Earth. You will be using the little yellow tac icon in the toolbar. This will allow you to choose different colors, icon, font, and sizes. One of the most important things to do is to save the points into folders by hole number. For example, all the heads on the 18th hole should be saved into its own folder.

Adding a point into Google Earth

This is the longest step in the entire process. You will spend hours inputting your points on the map. There is no real way to get the points perfectly accurate. The good news is you will be able to get your heads with in about 3-10 feet of where they are.

The Final Step

When you have finished inputting all your points you are now ready to export the file. The remarkable part is that the whole file is actually really small. This is how it is so easy to get the file onto a smartphone or tablet. 

Temporary Places Highlighted in Grey

Right clicking on the "Temporary Places" folder (highlighted in grey above) will give you a list of options. You will want to choose the "save places as" and name the file and save it to your desktop. You will now be ready to move the file (kmz. format) onto your phone. This can easily be done by emailing it to yourself. The file will go into your "Downloads" folder and be available for use.

For ease of use, you will want to download a file management app. I use ES File Explorer to simplify the opening process (believe me its much more easier to do it this way). Once you have located the file with in E.F.E. you will just add it as a favorite and set the file to open on your app homepage of E.F.E. Now with only two taps you will have your entire irrigation map of your course at your finger tips.

Another app which most people have is Google Earth on their phones or tablets. You will want to have this app if you don't already to use. Most phone operating systems will ask how you would like the file to be opened and give a list of applications to do so. You will want to select Google Earth and check the box to remember this choice. Google Earth also gives you the ability to use GPS and show your location along with the irrigation heads around you.

If you are interested in a project like this, please feel free to contact to me at grassmd@gmail.com. This description is a condensed version and there are more steps that are small and weren't included in this blog article.