Tile Planning Interface for Objective Drainage Layout
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Solution Overview
Problem
Landowners face challenges in planning and designing effective agricultural drainage tile systems due to limited knowledge and experience, leading to biased plans, high costs, and potential underperformance of the drainage system.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for facilitating tile planning that connects landowners with tile designers, allowing for data collection and plan creation through a user interface, including boundary definition, drainage outlet placement, and utility tracking, enabling remote planning without physical site visits.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If landowners rely on tile selling or installation companies to develop tile plans, then the planning process is simplified for landowners, but the tile plan may be biased towards using more tile lines than necessary or towards what is most financially beneficial for the company
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an independent third-party service (the tile planning system) that acts as an intermediary between landowners and tile installation companies. This intermediary collects field data, determines tile line specifications, and generates unbiased tile plans that serve the landowner's best interests while maintaining professional objectivity, thus resolving the conflict between ease of operation and plan reliability
2Loss of energy
If landowners independently develop their own tile plans, then costs are reduced, but landowners may make mistakes which result in unnecessary time and expense or underperforming drainage systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables landowners to self-serve by collecting their own field data and inputting it into the planning system, which reduces costs. However, the system supplements this self-service with automated data validation, expert rule-based calculations, and quality control checks that prevent mistakes and ensure accurate, reliable tile plans without requiring landowners to have specialized knowledge
3Reliability
If comprehensive field data is collected systematically, then tile plan effectiveness is improved, but the data collection process becomes more complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by providing landowners with a structured checklist of required field data parameters before they begin data collection. The system pre-defines all necessary measurements (field dimensions, soil characteristics, drainage requirements, etc.) and guides users through systematic data entry, ensuring comprehensive data collection for effective tile plans while simplifying the process through pre-organized categories and validation rules
Data Source
AI summary
A computer implemented method for drainage tile planning includes steps of presenting a first user interface to a user associated with a field in which drainage tile is to be installed and defining a set of drainage tile plan requirements by receiving through the first user interface and from the user associated with the field by: defining a boundary around the field by displaying a map including the field and receiving through the first user interface and from the user associated with the field a plurality of selections by the user associated with the field of edges of the field displayed on the map, and defining at least one desired drainage outlet position within the field by receiving through the user interface and from the user associated with the field a selection of the at least one desired drainage outlet position on the map.