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Agritourism - GPS Crop Mazes

Employing GPS Technologies in Agritourism

Photo: Dr. Gary Roberson

Dr. Gary Roberson
Extension Specialist
Biological and Agricultural Engineering
@ncsu.edu
Voice: (919) 515-6715
Fax: (919) 515-7760

View Farm Crop Mazes:

Above are mazes designs planned with GPS technology. Mazes were constructed at the NC extension technology transfer phase of GPS engineering research. The goal was to assist farmers with a technology driven way to increase farm revenue.

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More Information:

Current NC Ag. Crop Mazes

GIS Academy

Photo: Roberson in field with farmer.

The best time of year to visit mazes in North Carolina is during the Fall when crops are at full growth and height. Below find a list of links explaining how GPD was used to make these North Carolina mazes

Precision Agriculture can be applied to the creation of crop mazes which are popular agritourism attractions. Mazes can be constructed manually or using GPS technologies.

Precision Agriculture can be applied to the creation of crop mazes which are popular agritourism attractions. Mazes can be constructed manually or with GPS technologies. Crop mazes are one type of agritourism employed by farms as a source of revenue. Many effective mazes have been constructed by growers using manual measurement and layout in the field however, it is a time consuming and expensive process.

Photo: Dr. Roberson with backpack GPS system

GPS has been used to create many crop mazes in North Carolina. Using GPS technology greatly reduces the time required to layout and install a maze but it doesn't make the process any less expensive. This is due to the added cost of GPS equipment. However, these costs are quickly recovered in the construction time saved and the application of GPS equipment purchases to other aspects of farming.

Farmers interested in generating income from constructing a crop maze should consider the equipment costs as well as other business aspect of operating a maze.

Read this Mazes Design Article and learn how Dr. Roberson uses a GPS systems to design a maze. To learn about different kinds of maze designs you can make see Types of Maze Designs.

About GPS Technology

Photo: A backpack unit

The NCSU GIS Academy is the place to learn more about GPS/GIS technologies. You can take workshops offered through the academy to get started or learn about advanced topics.

Extension Publication

Creating Crop Mazes with GPS is a publication explaining the basics of using GPS technology to create a crop maze.

Photo: aerial view of a crop maze in the design of NC States mascot the wolf
The NCSU Wolf Pack mascot logo (below) is cut into corn field on Volmer Farm in Bunn, NC. This was the first GPS field cut by Dr. Roberson and his team.

* Maze Definitions
A maze consists of meandering or straight lines of intersecting paths having turns. Maze paths have start and end points. Generally only one correct path will take you out of a maze while others will be dead end points. A Crop Maze is a maze design that is transferred to a field of grown crops by mowing down a pathways through the crops. When a crop maze is seen from an aerial viewpoint the design is identifiable however, when people enter the maze after making a few turns they can become easily disoriented and confused due to a loss of vantage point.