Rice Survivor (Wet Season edition): Measuring a field

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I'm participating in this wet season's "Rice Survivor" activity. The question that worries me the most is: will the plants I tend this season survive? :) It's going to be a challenging time, this wet season...

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May 29, 2013

The first outdoor activity was about about field measurements. Simple enough, or so I thought. Normally, I would instantly grab measuring tape to get the dimensions of the field. Apparently, however, there are more ways than one for measuring one's field.

What we did...




My groupmates used measuring methods that ranged from the crude to the high-tech. Aside from measuring the field by counting one's steps (and multiplying it by his/her pace factor), we also measured the field using waypoint averaging... yes, we got a lot of measuring help from up above. Of course, we also measured the field using a tape measure, just cover all methods available to us.

Not surprisingly, we all got different measurements for field area. Which one to use, I don't know. But I'm thinking (I'm sure my groupmates are also thinking the same thing) we ought to go back in there once the land preparation is done to get final measurements and in preparation for field lay-out.

In our initial calculations for the area of the field, Google Maps was used as a tool to see the field from high up. The high-resolution image and the lengths that we've obtained using the tape measure confirmed what I have suspected since I first saw the field: we were facing a potential trapezium, given four unequal sides and whose angles are unknown. Why didn't I bring a protractor that day?!

Anyway, after all that hard work (and I know we're facing a steep learning curve here; more challenging days to come), we did enjoy the morning out in the field. Photography enthusiasts were snapping away (including me, albeit with a tablet).

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