1. Planar Designs (2D)
John Deere iGrade can ONLY follow single plane designs. OptiSurface Designer can import topography data from many sources including John Deere APEX (see OptiSurface Designer and John Deere's APEX) or John Deere Operations Center. OptiSurface Designer can then design a single or multiple plane design. The plane design can then be input into the iGrade display. Watch this video to learn how: How To Use OptiSurface Designer With John Deere iGrade Plane Control. OptiSurface Designer can also and export a cut/fill map to be printed or loaded into an iPad for a moving map display. No need for Terra Cutta or any other software.
Contact us at support@optisurface.com to get a single plane design for IGrade.
2. Curved Surface Designs (3D)
The real benefits of OptiSurface are the variable grades or curved design surfaces. These typically reduce the earthworks by 50% to 80% compared to single planes or even multiple planes design. To take full advantage of this you'll need a 3D machine control system like our OptiWorks that;
a) loads the OptiSurface design and displays a cut/fill map,
b) gets the gps coordinates from the John Deere RTK GPS receiver,
c) reads the design elevation from the OptiSurface design and
d) Controls the hydraulics on the tractor to raise and lower the blade of the scraper to match the design.
You can still use your existing John Deere RTK GPS receivers and tractor hydraulics on modern tractors, saving considerable on a 3D machine control systems.
OptiWorks can use John Deere iGrade as the controller or our controller that works with any RTK GPS and Tractor Hydraulics including John Deere.
Contact us at support@optisurface.com to learn more about your 3D machine control options for John Deere equipment and OptiSurface designs.
