Geospatial tools and techniques for vineyard management in the twenty-first century

Abstract

Tools and techniques to monitor and map the environment are now very well developed and widely used in practice. One area in which information technology has been increasingly and successfully applied over the past 20 years is in agricultural and horticultural applications. A specialised area of application of horticulture is Precision Viticulture (PV), a subject that has been increasingly documented in the USA and Australia. Precision Viticulture is now a very well developed approach to vineyard monitoring, mapping and management, and one that has been successfully demonstrated through many studies and practical applications leading to greatly improved effi ciency and effectiveness in the day-to-day operation of the vineyard and, ultimately, improved fruit quantity, quality and wine production. This has been particularly true for the larger commercial vineyards with both the fi nancial resources to utilise such technologies and operating over relatively large areas of grapevines. This chapter seeks to provide an up-to-date overview of the role of some of the geospatial and associated technologies in Precision Viticulture (PV).