Learning Center

Ditching: survey, design and grade a ditch

The whole Ditching job on one page, one tap at a time: connect, survey the route, let Slope-IQ™ design the grade, decide whether you need a benchmark today, choose Auto-Nudge™, grade, and pick the job up again later.

  • Full Automation Kit
  • Guidance Only Kit
  • Ditch Assist Lite

In the app Home › Ditching

Ditching cuts a surface drain to a designed grade with any blade the system can raise and lower: pull-type scrapers, ditchers, rotary ditchers and pull dozers. You drive the route once to record the ground. Slope-IQ™ designs a line that always drains toward the outlet with as little cut as it can. Then the Ditch Assist® system holds the blade on that line, pass after pass.

This page walks the whole job in order, one tap at a time. Each part links to a page with more detail.

Survey, design, grade, save and resume The loop every surface job follows, top to bottom. 1 Survey: drive the route and the app records the ground. Blade height plugs in here: it is only used while you survey. 2 Design: Slope-IQ or the workflow's design window builds the target grade. 3 Grade: the blade is worked to the target, automatically with a Full Automation Kit or by following the guide. 4 Save and resume: the job saves itself when you stop. An arrow loops from Save and resume back to Grade: on another day, calibrate on the benchmark first, then keep grading. Survey, design, grade 1 Survey Blade height 2 Design 3 Grade 4 Save & resume Next day: calibrate first
Every Ditching job runs the same loop: survey the route, design the grade, grade it, and pick the job up again another day. Blade height only matters while you survey. A benchmark matters when you come back.

Before you start

  • The tablet is on the control module's Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi on the tablet). Ditch Assist Lite: on the Reach receiver's hotspot. To practise with no machine, you'll tap Simulate instead (step 2).
  • The machine has RTK Fixed: the most accurate GPS position. The GPS button at the top of the screen then shows a green RTK.
  • Blade height is set for this implement (Set blade height)
  • Full Automation Kit: Raise and Lower move the implement the right way (Pre-flight checks)
  • You know which end is the outlet (where the water leaves) and where the ditch should run

Time: about 10 minutes on the tablet, plus one drive down the route to survey it, plus the grading passes.

1. Connect and survey the route

Tap Ditching

On the Home screen, tap the Ditching card: the first big square in the grid, top left, with a picture of a winding ditch.

The nine workflow cards on the Home screen in three rows: Ditching, Leveling, Simple Grading; Forming, Terracing, Excavation; Tiling, Levee, LiDAR and Mapping. Ditching is top left with a picture of a winding ditch 1
  1. Ditching. First card, top left.

A window opens called Ditching — Connect.

Tap Connect, or Simulate to practise

Connect is the big green button in the middle of the window. Tap it. The app finds the control module on the Wi-Fi the tablet is on.

Simulate, the white button under it, runs the whole job with a pretend machine and pretend RTK. Use it to learn Ditching before you take it to the field.

Ditching — Connect window, Connect to Controller: a green Connect button, then white Simulate and Bluetooth GPS buttons, and a Manual Options link 1 2 3
  1. Connect. Finds the control module on the Wi-Fi you're on.
  2. Simulate. Practise with a pretend machine.
  3. Bluetooth GPS. Survey only. It can't start grading.

Ditch Assist Lite shows Emlid Reach here instead (Connect to the Reach). A list called System Check appears next.

Tap Continue

Check the three rows first: Controller Connected, GPS Signal and GPS Accuracy. All green, with RTK Fixed, means go. An orange accuracy row reading FLOAT means the GPS isn't accurate enough yet: wait until it turns green.

Then tap Continue, the green button across the bottom of the window.

System Check: Controller Connected (Simulator active), GPS Signal (22 satellites) and GPS Accuracy (RTK Fixed — 0.8 HDOP), all with green ticks, and a green Continue button 1 2
  1. GPS Accuracy: RTK Fixed. All three rows green.
  2. Continue. Bottom of the window.

Tap New Survey

The window now asks What would you like to do? Tap New Survey, the first of three wide buttons. The Survey screen opens, with a dark Ready to Survey card in the middle of the map.

What would you like to do? Three wide buttons: New Survey, Load Survey and Load Design 1
  1. New Survey. Drive and record the route. (The other two: Other ways to start.)

If a Set Blade Height window opens first, your blade height isn't set yet: see Set blade height, then come back.

Drive to one end of the route

Wait until the card's three rows are green: Connected, GPS: RTK and RTK: Stable. Then drive to one end of the route with the implement raised, the way you carry it in transport. Line up on the line the water will take.

Ready to Survey card: green ticks for Connected, GPS: RTK and RTK: Stable, the line Drive to the start of your drain route, a big green START SURVEY button and a small Skip guided flow link 1
  1. Three green rows. Wait for all three before you start.

Tap START SURVEY

START SURVEY is the big green button in the dark card. Tap it. Recording starts.

Survey screen: the dark Ready to Survey card in the middle of the map with a big green START SURVEY button
  1. START SURVEY. The big green button in the middle of the map.

Drive the route

Drive to the far end at a steady pace, along the line you want the ditch to follow. A red label at the top of the map reads Recording Survey with the number of points so far.

A culvert or wet hole in the way? Tap Pause, grey, in the column on the right. More: Survey a run you can't drive.

Recording a survey: red label Recording Survey (15 pts) at the top of the map, an orange dotted track, a small dark bar at the bottom of the map with 15 pts and a red STOP button, and a grey Pause button in the right-hand column
  1. Recording Survey (15 pts). The count goes up as you drive.

Tap STOP at the far end

Tap STOP, the red button in the small dark bar at the bottom middle of the map. A window called Save Survey? opens, with the keyboard.

The red STOP button in a small dark bar at the bottom middle of the map, beside 15 pts
  1. STOP. Bottom middle of the map.

Type a name for the survey

The keyboard opens by itself (typing on the tablet). The Survey Name box already holds the date and time. Keep it, or give the survey a name you'll find next year, field and ditch: press and hold the delete key (an arrow shape with a cross in it, top right of the keyboard) to clear the box, then type.

Save Survey? window above the keyboard: a Survey Name box reading Survey 10-17 1532 (Ditching), and Discard and Save buttons
  1. Survey Name. The suggested name, with the date and time.
  2. Delete key. Press and hold to clear the box.

Tap Save

Tap Save, the green button under the name.

Save Survey? window with the name North 40 east ditch typed, a red-outlined Discard button and a green Save button, above the keyboard
  1. Save. Green, right of Discard.

The survey is saved on the tablet, and the design starts by itself. Driving tips, the Survey screen and every option: Survey a route.

2. Design the ditch

Tap Yes, that's correct (or No, it's reversed)

A window called Water Flow Direction opens by itself: step 1 of 3 of the Slope-IQ setup. It shows the elevation at each end of your survey. The lower end is marked OUTLET.

If that's where the water leaves, tap Yes, that's correct, the green button. If the ditch drains the other way, tap No, it's reversed, the white button under it.

Slope-IQ setup step 1 of 3, Water Flow Direction: START INLET 806.81 ft, END OUTLET 805.96 ft. We detected you drove from the INLET to the OUTLET. Is this correct? A green Yes, that's correct button and a white No, it's reversed button 1 2 3
  1. Ends of the survey. The lower end is taken as the outlet.
  2. Yes, that's correct. The water leaves at the end marked OUTLET.
  3. No, it's reversed. The ditch drains the other way.

Check the minimum grade

Step 2 of 3, Minimum Grade: the flattest the ditch is allowed to get. 0.05% (0.6 in of fall per 100 ft) is standard for surface drainage, and is filled in for you.

Leave it, or tap + (right of the number) to make the ditch run faster. Each tap adds 0.01 %. − takes it back down.

Step 2 of 3, Minimum Grade: 0.05% is standard for surface drainage. Minus and plus buttons either side of 0.05%, and a green Continue button 1
  1. Minimum grade. − and + change it in 0.01 % steps.

Tap Continue

Tap Continue, the green button across the bottom of the window.

The same Minimum Grade window, with the green Continue button at the bottom 1
  1. Continue. On to step 3.

Tap Create Design

Step 3 of 3 reads Ready to compute your best-fit design. Tap Create Design, the green button.

The app works out the BestFit design: a line that follows your ground as closely as it can, always falling to the outlet at no less than the minimum grade.

Step 3 of 3, Create Design: Ready to compute your best-fit design with 0.05% minimum grade, and a green Create Design button 1
  1. Create Design. Opens the Slope-IQ Design window with the result.

Check the design

The Slope-IQ Design window fills the screen. On the chart, the dashed green line is your ground, the orange line is the design, and the hatched area is what you'll cut.

The strip under the six number boxes gives the grade, the deepest cut (Max Cut), the cut volume and Est. Passes: how many passes it will take.

Slope-IQ Design window on BestFit: a chart of the ground, the orange design line and cut shading, six number boxes, and a strip reading Grade 0.173%, Max Cut 11.1 in, Avg Cut 5.1 in, Length 2559 ft, Drop 4.43 ft, Cut Vol 244.7 cubic yards, Est. Passes 6 at 2 in per pass; Implement Slope button at the bottom right
  1. Max Cut. The deepest cut anywhere on the run.
  2. Est. Passes. How many passes it takes, at 2 in a pass.

Most ditches need nothing changed. To cut deeper for a cleanout, raise DEPTH OFFSET, the first number box. Every box, the other design methods and a fixed outlet depth: Design a ditch with Slope-IQ.

Tap Implement Slope

Implement Slope is the green button at the bottom right of the window. Tap it.

The Slope-IQ Design window with a green Implement Slope button at the bottom right corner, and Cancel at the bottom left
  1. Implement Slope. Bottom right corner.

A small window called Save Design opens, and the keyboard opens with it.

Tap Save & Implement

The name is filled in for you: the survey name with (Ditching) on the end. You don't need to type anything. Tap Save & Implement, the green button in the window, above the keyboard.

Save Design window above the keyboard: Name this design before implementing, a box reading North 40 east ditch (Ditching), Cancel and a green Save and Implement button
  1. Design name. Survey name plus (Ditching). Used in the Designs list and the job name.
  2. Save & Implement. Green, right of Cancel.

If that name is already used, the suggested name ends in V2, V3 and so on, so the older design is kept. The Grade screen opens.

3. Grade it

If Calibrate GPS? appears, tap Skip or Calibrate

A survey you just drove goes straight on, with no window. When the survey, design or job came off the tablet instead (Load Survey, Load Design, Resume), a window called Calibrate GPS? appears, once per file per session. The app can't tell whether your base has moved, so you decide.

  • Same day, same base setup, nothing moved: tap Skip.
  • Coming back on another day, or the base was moved or restarted: tap Calibrate, then calibrate on your benchmark (Do I need a benchmark today?).
Calibrate GPS? If your RTK base station location has changed since this design file was created, you should calibrate to ensure accurate grading. Drive to a point where the design elevation matches the original ground (a zero-cut/fill location), lower your implement, then calibrate. Buttons Skip and Calibrate at the bottom right 1 2
  1. Skip. Same day, same base setup, nothing moved.
  2. Calibrate. Opens Calibrate Elevation, with your benchmarks.

Set Max Cut Per Pass

A window called Auto-Nudge Mode opens across the screen. Auto-Nudge splits a deep cut into passes for you.

Set Max Cut Per Pass to what your implement takes in one bite in this ground. It starts at 2 in. Tap ⊕ (right of the number) for more, ⊖ (left) for less: 0.5 in a tap, from 0.5 to 12 in.

Auto-Nudge Mode window across the screen: Max Cut Per Pass with a minus button, 2.0 inches and a plus button, Estimated 6 passs at deepest point, and two wide buttons, Use Manual Nudge (white) and Enable Auto-Nudge (green)
  1. Max Cut Per Pass. ⊖ and ⊕ either side of the number.

Tap Enable Auto-Nudge

Enable Auto-Nudge is the wide green button at the bottom right of the window. Tap it.

For a shallow cut you'll take in one pass, tap Use Manual Nudge (the white button on the left) instead. How to choose: Nudge and Auto-Nudge.

The same Auto-Nudge Mode window, with the wide green Enable Auto-Nudge button at the bottom right and the white Use Manual Nudge button at the bottom left
  1. Enable Auto-Nudge. The app sets each pass's target. You step through passes with Pass +.
  2. Use Manual Nudge. You move the target yourself with Nudge Up and Nudge Down.

Lower the cutting edge to the ground

Drive to where you want to start. Lower the cutting edge onto the ground with the tractor's hydraulic lever. With a Full Automation Kit you can also press and hold the red Lower button, bottom of the column on the right (press and hold). Raise, above it, lifts.

Grade screen before Start: a green Raise button and a red Lower button at the bottom of the right-hand column
  1. Raise and Lower. Hold down to move the implement (Full Automation Kit).

Tap Start

Start is the big green button at the top of the column on the right, under Home. Tap it. The blade is now under automatic control.

Grade screen ready to start: a big green Start button at the top of the right-hand column, under Home; the Grade / Depth Guide column beside it and the ground chart along the bottom
  1. Start. Top of the right-hand column.

Start won't go while the GPS isn't good. It tells you why: No GPS fix or GPS: STALE — position not updating.

Drive the run

You should see a red Auto Grading Active banner at the top of the tall white column (the Grade / Depth Guide). Drive at your grading speed; the blade follows the target.

ON GRADE on the map means the cutting edge is where it should be. Off by more than an inch, it shows the distance with CUT or FILL and big arrows. Reading the guide, the chart and every banner: Grade the ditch.

Grading: a red Auto Grading Active banner at the top of the guide column, the black triangle on the blue CURRENT line above the yellow FINAL TARGET band, ON GRADE on the map, and Stop, Hold, Pass + and Pass 1 of 6 in the right-hand column
  1. Auto Grading Active. The system is moving the blade.
  2. ON GRADE. The cutting edge is within 1 in of the target.

Tap Pass + at the end of each full pass

When you've covered the whole run, tap Pass +, the blue button in the AUTO-NUDGE box in the column on the right. The target drops one bite deeper wherever it's still above the design. The pass number under it goes up by one: Pass 2 of 6.

The right-hand column while grading: Stop, Hold, then an AUTO-NUDGE box with Max Cut 2.0 in, a blue Pass + button, Pass 1 of 6 and a greyed-out Pass − button
  1. Pass + and the pass number. Here, pass 1 of 6.

Passes don't step on by themselves: you decide when the run is done. Keep going pass by pass until the last one, which grades to the design.

Tap Stop when you're done

Stop is the red button at the top of the column on the right, where Start was. Tap it. The hydraulics stop at once and the job saves itself: coverage, worked surface, pass and nudge are all kept.

Grading: a red Stop button at the top of the right-hand column, with a grey Hold button under it
  1. Stop. Where Start was. Ends grading and saves the job.

Tomorrow, pick the job up with Resume on the Grade screen (Resume a job).

Do I need a benchmark today?

RTK elevations line up with each other only while the base stays exactly where it is and keeps running. Set it up again tomorrow, move it or restart it, and every reading shifts by the same amount. A survey from last week is then a few inches (or a few feet) out from today's GPS, and the ditch would be cut that much too deep or too shallow.

A benchmark is a spot you can drive back to, whose elevation the app saved. Calibrating on it puts today's readings back on the survey's elevations.

No benchmark needed

You survey and grade the ditch in one session on one base setup. The survey, the design and the grading all share the same base, so the elevations already line up. Go straight to grading.

Calibrate first

You're coming back to this survey, design or job: day two of the job, next year's cleanout of the same ditch, the base was moved, set up again, replaced or rebooted, or the design was built from a survey taken earlier on another base setup.

Today's jobCalibrate?
Survey this morning, grade this afternoon, base untouchedNo. Same base setup.
Same day, but you reset and loaded the survey or resumed the job againNo. The app asks because the file came off the tablet. Tap Skip.
Day two of the same ditchYes. The base was set up again overnight.
Next spring's cleanout from last year's designYes. Calibrate on the field's benchmark before the first pass.
The base blew over or lost power mid-jobYes. Recalibrate before you carry on.
Design from a survey someone else drove last weekYes. Calibrate on the benchmark set when that survey was driven.
Do I need to calibrate today? A decision flow. Question: are you working the same day and on the same base setup as the survey or design? Yes: no benchmark is needed, grade straight away, for example a ditch surveyed and dug the same day with the base untouched. No: calibrate first if you are coming back another day, the job runs over several days, it is next year’s cleanout, the base was moved, set up again or rebooted, or the design comes from an older survey. To calibrate on the field’s benchmark: 1, drive to the benchmark, such as the field entrance; 2, tap the BM badge in the top bar, which is grey or orange; 3, lower the cutting edge onto the benchmark and hold still; 4, tap Calibrate to, then the benchmark name, 5s avg, and the app averages 5 seconds; 5, read the Calibrate sheet status line: Calibrated to, with a green tick, means you can work. No benchmark yet? Calibrate on an undisturbed point of the loaded survey or design, never on ground you have cut, then tap Set Benchmark here for next time. The BM badge is grey when not calibrated and orange when a calibration is applied, whether done today or restored after a restart, so read the status line: green Calibrated to, this session, work; orange Restored from a date, recalibrate before working; grey Not calibrated, raw GPS elevations. Same day and same base setupas the survey or design?YesNoNo benchmarkneededGrade straightaway.e.g. a ditchsurveyed and dugthe same day, baseuntouchedCalibrate first if:Coming backanother dayJob runs overseveral daysNext year’s cleanoutBase moved, set upagain or rebootedDesign from anolder surveyCalibrate on the field’s benchmark1Drive to the benchmarke.g. the field entrance2BMTap the BM badgetop bar; grey or orange3Lower the cutting edgeonto the benchmark, hold still45 sTap Calibrate to … (5s avg)the app averages 5 seconds5Read the Calibrate sheet status“Calibrated to …” with a green tick: workNo benchmark yet?Calibrate on an undisturbed point of theloaded survey or design (never on groundyou’ve cut), then tap Set Benchmark herefor next time.BM badgeBMNot calibratedBMCalibrated orrestored: readthe status lineCalibrate sheet status lineCalibrated to … this session: workRestored from … recalibrate before workingNot calibrated raw GPS elevations
Do I need to calibrate today? Only when you're coming back to an older survey, design or job, or the base has moved. Same day on the same base setup: no calibration needed.

Set one benchmark per field

Do it the day you survey a ditch you'll come back to, before the base is moved, so the benchmark carries the same elevations as the survey. Pick a spot you can find and drive onto again: the field entrance, a culvert headwall, a fence corner. Use that one benchmark for everything in the field, year after year.

Park on the spot with the cutting edge on the ground, and hold still. The app averages the position for 5 seconds and saves it. Every tap, with pictures: Set one benchmark per field.

Calibrate when you come back

Tap Calibrate in the Calibrate GPS? window. (Any other time: tap the BM button in the white bar across the top of the screen.) A window called Calibrate Elevation opens, with your benchmarks listed nearest first. Tap yours, and the app guides you onto it.

Calibrate Elevation window: Not calibrated — elevations are raw GPS; CALIBRATE TO list with benchmarks BM 2, BM 1 and BM 3 and their distances; a Loaded design card with a Calibrate button, nearest point 3.9 ft away, and Surveyed ground and Design grade buttons; Advanced and Manage benchmarks 1 2 3 4
  1. Status. Not calibrated, or what you calibrated to and when.
  2. Your benchmarks. Nearest first. Tap one to be guided onto it.
  3. Loaded design. No benchmark? Calibrate on an untouched spot of the run. On ground already cut to grade, switch to Design grade.
  4. Manage benchmarks. Set a new one here.

On the spot (within about 1.5 ft), lower the cutting edge onto it. The button then reads Calibrate to BM 2 (5s avg), with your benchmark's name. Tap it and hold still while the app averages for 5 seconds. The status line at the top of the window then reads Calibrated to benchmark. Now grade. Every tap, with pictures: Coming back: calibrate on the benchmark.

No benchmark from last time? Calibrate on the loaded survey or design instead, at a spot on the route that hasn't been touched since it was surveyed. Never calibrate on ground you've already cut. On a stretch that's already at grade, switch the row to Design grade.

Where you stand: the BM button at the top of the screen is grey when nothing is calibrated and orange when a calibration is applied, whether you calibrated this session or the app restored last session's. Tap it and read the status line in the Calibrate Elevation window. Calibrated to … (green) means this session. Restored from <date> — recalibrate before working means last session's offset: recalibrate if the base has moved since. Every method in detail: Benchmarks and calibration.

Other ways to start

The What would you like to do? window has two more buttons under New Survey:

  • Load Survey: design from a survey you saved earlier. Pick it in the list and tap its Load button. The Slope-IQ Design window opens on it, without the 3-step setup. Calibrate GPS? asks when you implement.
  • Load Design: pick a saved design and tap its Implement button. Survey and design are skipped. The Calibrate GPS? and Auto-Nudge Mode windows follow.
  • A line from design software: the Load list's Import survey file (XYZ / XYZP) and Import design file (XYZP) links (Import a design or survey). Treat it as an older survey: calibrate before grading.
  • Carry on with a saved job: Resume a job, step by step.

On each kit

  • Full Automation Kit: as described. The valve moves the blade; Hold, Raise and Lower work.
  • Guidance Only Kit: the same steps. There's no valve, so nothing moves the implement by itself: tap Start and keep the triangle on the target with the tractor lever.
  • Ditch Assist Lite: every step is the same up to Start. Start runs guidance (the banner reads Guidance Active) and you move the blade. No Raise, Lower or Hold. Auto-Nudge still sets each pass's target. Working in Ditch Assist Lite.
Ditching walkthrough video. Where a screen in the video differs from the pictures on this page, the pictures show the current app.

If something goes wrong

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