Welcome to BreederMap’s documentation!¶
Concepts¶
This plugin allows the creation of a grid of polygons that define the plots in the breeding trial. These polygons will be labelled automatically with auto-increments for columns and rows. The user needs to specify the number of columns (each tractor track) and rows (plots in the direction of the tractor when sowing) and the gaps between plots. The grid placement is interactive, and it is possible to edit the vertex independently for not regular shapes. It is also essential to define the starting plot for correct automatic numbering.
The plugin generates two temporary layers. One polygon layer and a point layer. The polygon layer contains the plot and has three attributes: columns, row and num as attributes. The num attribute is a unique identifier calculated as “column” * 1000 + “row”. The point layer contains points extracted at the plot gaps that can be used to calculate the ground height when calculating plot height from a DEM.
Basic usage¶
Start the plugin by activating the panel with the Toolbar Icon.
The panel shows the primary inputs to create your grid: the number of columns (each tractor track) and rows (plots in the direction of the tractor when sowing), as well as the gaps between plots. Once defined, click on “Start”, and the grid draft will be shown on the map.
The placement of the grid is interactive. By dragging it to the middle of the grid, the user can move it to the centre of the trial. Then, rotate by clicking and dragging on the blue dot. The size can be adjusted by dragging on the red dots. The greed dot represent the first plot (column = 1, row = 1).
Once the grid is in place, it is possible to edit the vertex independently for not regular shapes. Click on “Edit individual nodes” and drag the corner dots independently.
It is also essential to define the starting plot for correct automatic numbering. By clicking on “Reverse Columns” or “Reverse Rows”, the location of the green dot will change, indicating the initial plot.
Once the grid matches the experimental layout, you can click on “Save” to generate the temporary layers with the polygons and gap points.
The individual plots and points can be edited in QGIS as usual.
Please, remember to make the layers permanent otherwise, they will be lost when closing QGIS.
