Carlson Software Releases AgStar 2010

MAYSVILLE, Ky. U.S.A. – Carlson Software has released Carlson AgStar 2010 for agricultural land-leveling. AgStar offers a complete toolset that combines GPS data collection and data import with field design, graphic reports, and stakeout.

First introduced in 2004, Carlson AgStar has been used by farmers, contractors, and surveyors, around the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also utilized the program as it helps to increase yields and optimize earthwork.

This newest version of AgStar for 2010 is built on IntelliCAD®6.6 so there is no need to buy an additional CAD engine to run the software. The new release includes updated GPS drivers for new receivers from John Deere, Magellan, and others. There’s also the ability to draw geo-referenced aerial images.

“Carlson AgStar 2010 promotes more efficient planting and harvesting,” says Dave Carlson, V.P. of Development for Carlson Software. “Users can accurately level a field and set it at a consistent slope throughout for better drainage and, at the same time, minimize the need for cut and fill.”

AgStar handles both the survey and the design sides of land-leveling, allowing users to survey large fields with GPS, and then determine the optimal field design that requires the least amount of dirt moved. The field design tool can be set to a user-specified field slope, or to search for the optimal slope.

A host of other design parameters can be specified, including cut/fill ratio, amount of dirt to import or export, and constraints on the range of slopes to search. With AgStar, users can also subdivide the field and assign different designs to each subdivision, which is useful if they want crowns in the field.