Glossary

Short, plain definitions of the words you'll meet in the Ditch Assist® app. Labels in this style are spelled exactly as the app shows them. Each entry links to the page with the full story.

A · B · C · D · E · F · G · H · I · J · K–L · M · N–O · P · R · S · T · U–Z

A

A→B Grade

On the Survey screen: the average grade, in percent, from the first survey point to where you are now. Survey screen

AB line

Straight, evenly spaced passes on the Field Survey screen: set point A, drive, set B, and the app lays parallel passes at your Swath spacing and steers you down each. Field Survey

Active workflow

The Home card you picked, shown with an ACTIVE tag. Survey and Grade open that workflow until you tap Change Mode. Home screen

AGD

A land-forming design file (text, existing and proposed elevations, section boundaries and named benchmarks) exported by design software, imported in Land Forming. Import a design

Antenna level

The orange chip Blade Ht 0 — antenna level on the Survey screen: blade height isn't set, so survey points are recorded at the antenna's own elevation. Set blade height before you survey. Set blade height

Auto-Balance

Terracing button that deepens the channel until the earth it cuts fills the berm (allowing 15 % for compaction), up to Auto Balance Max Offset. Terracing: Standard

Auto-hold

The app pausing valve commands by itself because the GPS is no longer good enough: HOLD — No RTK Fix or HOLD — GPS Stale. The guidance keeps running and the hold releases on its own when the fix comes back. HOLD banners

Auto grading

The valve moving the blade to the target by itself, after you tap Start on the Grade screen (Auto Grading Active). Full Automation Kit only. Grade screen

Auto Measure

Measures blade height with RTK: the app averages the GPS elevation with the implement raised, then lowered to the ground, and saves the difference. Set blade height

Auto-Nudge™

Staged passes: the app sets each pass's target no deeper than Max Cut Per Pass below the ground, so a deep cut is taken in several passes. Pass + / Pass − step through them. Works in Ditch Assist Lite too. Nudge and Auto-Nudge

B

Base (base station)

The RTK receiver set up still on a known spot, sending corrections to the rover on the machine. Moving or re-setting it changes the elevation frame. Base station

Benchmark (BM)

A spot you can drive back to (field entrance, culvert headwall) whose elevation you save, so later work in the same field can be calibrated to the same reference. The BM badge shows whether a calibration is applied: grey outline (not calibrated) or filled orange (calibrated). Tap it and read the status line to tell a calibration from this session (green tick) from one restored from an earlier day (Restored from … — recalibrate before working). Benchmarks and calibration

Benchmark Offset

The difference between raw GPS elevation and your calibrated elevation. Shown, but not editable, on the SURVEY card in Settings; set it by calibrating. Settings: Survey

Berm

The raised ridge of a terrace, built on the downhill side of the channel from the earth the channel gives. Terracing

BestFit

The default Slope-IQ design tab: a line that follows the ground as closely as it can while always falling at least the minimum grade to the outlet. Design with Slope-IQ

Blade Height

The height of the cutting edge above the ground with the implement raised in transport position. You survey with the blade up, so the app subtracts it from every survey point. Only used while recording a survey; it is not the antenna-to-cutting-edge distance. Set blade height

Bottom Width

Width of the ditch floor (Slope-IQ, Simple Grading) or channel floor (Terracing). Starts at your Swath Width.

C

Calibrate

Line up the app's elevations with a reference (a saved benchmark, a loaded survey or design) so today's work matches earlier work. Not needed when you survey and grade in one session on one base setup. Benchmarks and calibration

Change Mode

Home button that clears the job in memory and takes you back to the workflow cards. Saved files stay. Home screen

Channel

The water-carrying cut of a terrace. The Channel / Berm buttons pick which one you're grading.

Chevron

The big arrows on the Grade map pointing the way the blade has to go. One per Inches Per Chevron of error, up to four. Grade / Depth Guide

Compaction allowance

The extra fill Terracing allows because packed earth takes less room: fixed at 15 %.

Contour

A line of equal elevation. Levee and the contour workflows draw them from a DEM or a driven survey and steer you along one. Levee & Contour

Control module

The Ditch Assist box in the cab that reads the GPS receiver, talks to the tablet over its own Wi-Fi (password 12345678) and, on the Full Automation Kit, drives the valve. Install the hardware

Corrections

The data from a base station or network that turns a plain GPS position into RTK. Corrections

Coverage (Coverage Grid)

The coloured squares painted on the map where the blade has been: green at grade, yellow / orange / red for passes still to go, blue cut too deep. Draw on Map turns it off. Draw on Map

Current Tgt

The target for this pass (the blue CURRENT line in the guide), as opposed to Final Tgt, the design. Grade / Depth Guide

Cut / fill

CUT: the blade is above the target and must come down (positive numbers). FILL: the blade is below the target (negative numbers). In a design, cut is earth to remove and fill is earth to add.

D

DEM

Digital elevation model: a grid of ground elevations, from LiDAR or a design. Used for contours, drainage layers and the LiDAR height check. Saved fields and DEMs

Depth Offset

A fixed amount added below (or above) a design or reference: in Slope-IQ it lowers the whole design line; in Manual Grade it sets how far below 0+00 the grade starts.

DGPS

Differential GPS, accurate to about a metre. Not good enough to survey or grade. A John Deere StarFire SF-RTK reports DGPS while on a true RTK fix. DGPS on an RTK receiver

DIG™

The excavator and backhoe kit: angle sensors on the boom, stick and bucket plus GPS on the stick give live bucket-tip depth in the Excavation workflow. Excavation

Drain-IQ

A catalog of field drainage layers loaded from a portal page set on the DRAIN-IQ card in Settings. Separate from your own LiDAR & Mapping fields. Settings: Drain-IQ

Drainage Planner

The screen that thins a field's flow lines to the ones draining at least a set area, and saves them as a named plan. Drainage Planner

Duty cycle (Valve DC)

How much power the control module gives the valve coil, in tenths of a percent: 500 = half power, 1000 = full power. In automatic grading the valve starts at Min Valve DC and the power climbs towards Max Valve DC while the blade lags behind. The app's recommended starting values are 301 and 701; a new or reset control module holds 400 and 600. They don't change the manual Raise and Lower buttons. Settings: Controller

E

Edit Design

Button on the Grade screen's profile chart that reopens the design. Saving offers Start Fresh Job or Keep My Progress. Edit the design

Elevation Mismatch Check

Optional Pre-Start warning when the target is far above or below where you are (off by default, 30 in). Pre-Start Safety

Emlid Diagnostics

Tool at the bottom of Settings that checks and programs an Emlid Reach RS3 / RS4 as a Ditch Assist base, rover or Lite rover. Emlid Diagnostics

F

Field Mode

Optional (beta) way to file surveys, designs, jobs and benchmarks by field. Field Mode

Field Survey

The whole-field survey screen: drive the field to collect elevations for contours or design software, with optional AB lines. Also the name of the full-map view in the Survey sidebar. Field Survey

Final target (Final Tgt)

The design target with no nudge or pass offset: the yellow FINAL TARGET band in the guide.

Float (RTK Float)

A partial RTK solution, accurate to a few inches to a foot and wandering. Not endorsed for survey or grading; wait for RTK Fixed. Badge: amber FLOAT. Stuck on Float

Freeform

The Slope-IQ tab where you place the design's corners yourself, with no grade rules.

G

Geo-Surface™

Ditch Assist's owner portal and design software for drainage maps and simple designs that load into the app. Owner portal

GNSS

Satellite positioning in general: GPS plus GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou.

Grade Alert

A tone (no vibration) while the blade is within Grade Alert Threshold (default 2 in) of the target. Off by default; Excavation has its own, on by default. Alerts

Grade Check

Survey tool in Shots mode: shoot point A, move, shoot point B, read the grade between them.

Grade / Depth Guide

The column beside the Grade map showing your blade (the triangle) against FINAL TARGET and CURRENT, with the error readout. Grade / Depth Guide

Guided

The Slope-IQ tab where you tap points on the ground profile to pin the design through them.

H

HDOP

Horizontal dilution of precision: how well spread the satellites are. Lower is better; under 1.0 is good. RTK Sensitivity Mid holds above 1.2, High above 0.9, Low ignores it. RTK Sensitivity

Hold / Resume

Sidebar buttons while auto grading: Hold stops valve commands without leaving grading (HOLD — Manual Control); Resume carries on. Not in Excavation or Ditch Assist Lite.

I

Implement

Whatever the blade is on: scraper, ditcher, blade, leveler, tile plow.

Inches Per Chevron

How much error each chevron stands for (default 3 in). Settings: Grading

Inlet

The upper end of a ditch or tile line, where water comes in.

IQ Survey

The Survey sidebar view with the map and profile chart (the other is Field Survey).

J

Job

A saved grading session: the design, nudge, pass, coverage and graded surface. Autosaves while you grade; reopen it with Resume. Save and resume jobs

K–L

KML

A map file of lines, points and areas that you can add as an overlay in Map Layers. Add an overlay

LandXML

A 3D design-surface file from civil design software, imported in Excavation. LandXML designs

LiDAR

Laser-scanned ground elevation from public surveys (USGS 3DEP in the US, HRDEM in Canada) that LiDAR & Mapping downloads to map drainage. LiDAR & Mapping

Lightbar

The row of coloured blocks across the top of the Levee and AB-line screens. It lights up on the side you've drifted to and turns green on the line; steer toward the arrows. Follow a contour

Ditch Assist Lite

Guidance from an activated Emlid Reach RS3 / RS4 on the implement, no control module, no automation; every workflow runs. To turn it on, tap Ditch Assist Lite on the Mode card at the top of Settings; Home then shows LITE MODE. Ditch Assist Lite

Lookahead

Uses where the machine will be a moment ahead to set the valve target, to make up for hydraulic delay (and to look ahead on contour steering). Off by default. Lookahead

M

Manual Grade

Grading to a typed grade and direction from a 0+00 point you set, with no survey or design. Manual Grade

Max Cut Depth / Max Cut Per Pass

The deepest cut Auto-Nudge plans per pass. Default 2 in. Settings: Grading

Min Grade

The least fall a design may have, in percent: 0.05 % to start in Slope-IQ, 0.10 % in Tiling and Terracing.

N–O

Nudge

Moving the target up or down by hand, Nudge Sensitivity (default 2 in) per tap of Nudge Up / Nudge Down. Shown in the stats bar. Nudge and Auto-Nudge

On grade

Blade within the on-grade window of the target: ±1 in in most workflows, ±0.5 in in Tiling, ±1.5 in in Excavation. The map shows a green ON GRADE bar.

Outlet

The lower end of a ditch or tile line, where water leaves. Slope-IQ works out the direction; tapping Outlet: Auto (it then reads Outlet: Reversed) reverses it, and OUTLET DEPTH fixes how deep it must be there.

Over Max

Red shading in a design where the cut goes deeper than MAX DEPTH.

P

Pass

One trip along the run with the blade working. With Auto-Nudge the sidebar shows Pass 1 of 6.

PPP

Precise point positioning: satellite correction services some receivers report. Not RTK; not endorsed for survey or grading.

Pre-Flight Checks

The orange sidebar button on Home: connection, GPS, corrections and the valve test in one window. Pre-Flight Checks

Pre-Start Safety

Two optional warnings when you tap Start: Elevation Mismatch Check and Manual Grade Reference Distance Warning. Pre-Start Safety

Profile chart

The side view of the run along the bottom of the Survey and Grade screens. Drag its grab bar to resize. Profile chart

R

Reference point (0+00)

Where a Manual Grade run starts; the grade is worked out from it.

Reset

Clears the survey, design, grading progress, nudge and coverage in memory (Reset All?) and goes back to Home with the workflow still active. Saved files stay on the tablet.

Rock Hit Detection

Tiling: when the plow rides more than 2 in above the target for about 2 seconds, the app raises the target (Rock Hit — Design Adjusted). On by default; always off in Lite mode. Rock Hit Detection

Rover

The RTK receiver on the machine (or on the blade for Ditch Assist Lite), taking corrections from the base.

RTK Filter

Setting that accepts only RTK Fixed for survey points and holds grading when RTK is lost. On by default. RTK Filter

RTK Fixed

The full RTK solution, accurate to about an inch. The only fix endorsed for survey and grading. Badge: green RTK. RTK explained

RTK Sensitivity

Low / Mid / High: how quickly grading holds when RTK quality drops. Default Mid. RTK Sensitivity

S

Shots

Survey mode that logs one point per tap of Log Point, for runs you can't drive; the app joins shots with straight lines. Survey a run you can't drive

Side Slope

Steepness of a ditch or channel bank, as horizontal to vertical (6:1 means 6 ft across for 1 ft down).

Simulator

Simulate in the connect step: a built-in GPS that drives a practice run, so you can learn the app without a machine. It doesn't unlock LiDAR & Mapping. Practise with the simulator

Slope-IQ™

The ditch designer, with BestFit, Guided and Freeform tabs. Design with Slope-IQ

Stale GPS

No new position for the GPS Delay Timeout (5 s). The badge and chevrons dim and grading holds (HOLD — GPS Stale).

Stats bar

The bar across the top of the Survey and Grade screens: live numbers plus the GPS, Wi-Fi and BM badges and the Settings wrench. Stats bar and badges

Sunlight

The default bright, high-contrast display mode; the other is Dark. Display Mode

Swath Width

Your implement's working width: the width of the coverage on the map and the starting ditch bottom width. Default 8 ft. Swath Width

T

Target

The elevation the blade should be at where you are now: the design plus any nudge or pass offset.

TIN

A ground or design surface made of triangles, used for LandXML designs.

Track

The line on the map showing where you've driven (the last 5,000 positions).

U–Z

Units

Feet + Inches, Decimal Feet or Metric. Units

WMS

An online map service you can add as an overlay in Map Layers.

Workflow

A job type on a Home card: Ditching, Leveling, Simple Grading, Forming, Terracing, Excavation, Tiling, Levee and LiDAR & Mapping. Workflows

XYZ / XYZP

Text files of points: XYZ has position and existing elevation; XYZP adds the proposed (design) elevation as a fourth column. Comma, space or tab separated. Import a design