Mapping a Better Vintage

About this technology

Overview

NASA's Earth Science Enterprise partnered with the U.S. wine and commercial remote sensing industries for a project known as the Viticultural Integration of NASA Technologies for Assessment of the Grapevine Environment (VINTAGE). Based on VINTAGE's applied research, VESTRA Resources, Inc., released the Vineyard Block Uniformity Map. VESTRA employed the ArcViewT 8.2 and ArcGIST Spatial Analyst software from Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., to find the percent coefficient of variation (a standard statistical measure) for each block within a 1,000 acre vineyard based on NDVI. The result was a vineyard-level map quantifying block variability, a helpful tool for crop managers. VESTRA's map product has been delivered to several wineries. The maps can serve as an executive summary, allowing managers at companies with large and widespread vineyard holdings to easily identify blocks where new or revised management practices might need to be implemented. Providing a warning, the maps can indicate if a block shows variation over a certain percent. ArcViewT and ArcGIST are trademarks of Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.