Learning Center

Follow a contour and record your coverage

Pick a contour, steer by the lightbar and the arrows, tune them in Guidance Sensitivity, tap Start to paint what you've built, and save the job to pick up tomorrow. Also Next Contour, Deselect, loading and deleting jobs, and Clear All.

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

In the app Levee › contours › Select Nearest / Start

With the contours drawn, pick one and drive it. The app steers you with a lightbar across the top and big arrows on the map; you steer the tractor and run the blade. Tap Start to paint what you've built, so tomorrow you can see where to pick up.

Following a contour in Levee and Contour The Levee screen seen from above, travelling up the page. 1: the lightbar across the top lights on the side you have drifted to, here the right, green near the centre, then amber, then red. 2: big red arrows on the map point back to the contour, here to the left: steer toward the arrows. 3: the active contour is orange. 4: coverage paints amber behind the implement while a run is recording. 5: after you tap Stop the run turns violet and is saved with the job. 6: the other contours are one Contour Interval apart in height, 3 inches by default; grey here, coloured by height in the app. Levee and Contour is steering guidance only: you steer and you run the blade. Following a contour Steering guidance only 1 2 3 4 5 6

The lightbar shows where you are; the arrows show where to go. Steer toward the arrows until the centre block of the lightbar turns green.

  1. Lightbar. Lights on the side you've drifted to, here the right: green near the centre, then amber, then red.
  2. Arrows. Point back to the contour, here to the left. Steer toward them.
  3. Active contour. Orange. Tap Select Nearest, or tap a contour on the map.
  4. Coverage, recording. Paints amber behind the implement after you tap Start.
  5. Coverage, done. Turns violet when you tap Stop, and is saved with the job.
  6. Other contours. One Contour Interval apart in height (3″ by default). The app colours them by height; grey here.

Before you start

  • Contours on the map (Generate contours), or a saved job loaded
  • Connected to the control module, an activated Reach, or the simulator
  • Green RTK. On Float the guidance keeps going but warns it may be off.
  • Swath Width set to your implement (in Settings, under IMPLEMENT): it's the width of the coverage band

Time: a minute to pick a contour and set up; then as long as the levee takes to build.

Pick a contour and steer

Tap Select Nearest

Straight after Generate the nearest contour is already picked, so you can skip this. Otherwise tap Select Nearest at the top of the right-hand column, or tap a contour on the map. The contour closest to you turns orange and thick, and the lightbar comes on.

Contours on the map with none picked, top bar Tap a contour to start guidance; Select Nearest at the top of the right-hand column
  1. Select Nearest. Tap it.

Read the screen

Now the screen steers you. The readout at the top left says how far off you are and which way to steer; the lightbar under it lights up on the side you've drifted to; the big arrows on the map point back to the orange line.

Active contour in orange near the position dot, lightbar lit to the right with a 393 inch block label, five red arrows pointing left, readout 393.3 inches LEFT, Elev 793.00 ft, 55%; sidebar Start, Next Contour, Deselect, Edit Boundary, Clear Boundary, Save, Clear All 2 3 4
  1. Readout. How far off and which way to steer (LEFT / RIGHT / ON TRACK), the contour's elevation, how far along it you are.
  2. Lightbar. Lit on the side you've drifted to; the label is one block's worth.
  3. Arrows. Steer this way. More arrows, farther off.
  4. Active contour. Orange.

Steer toward the arrows

The lightbar is the usual autosteer convention: drift left and the blocks fill to the left, green near the centre, then amber, then red. The arrows point the other way, back to the line, and the readout says which way to steer. Steer toward the arrows. Within the on-track tolerance the centre block turns green; within about 2″ the readout says ON TRACK.

Close to the contour: readout 21.0 inches RIGHT, the lightbar lit to the left with a 21 inch block label, three arrows pointing right toward the orange contour 2 3
  1. 21.0″ RIGHT. Steer right 21 inches to get back on.
  2. Lightbar. Lit on the left: you've drifted left.
  3. Arrows. Point right, back to the line.

On a looping or wiggly contour the app follows the strand you're actually driving. As you move across to a different contour it switches the active line by itself.

To move to another contour, tap Next Contour

Next Contour is the second button in the right-hand column. It jumps to the nearest other contour, usually one interval up or down from where you are; it may not be the levee you meant, so check the orange line. Deselect, under it, drops the active contour and stops guidance; the contours stay.

After Next Contour: a different contour is active in orange and the lightbar and arrows steer to it
  1. Next Contour and Deselect. Next Contour picks another line; Deselect stops guidance.

Tune the lightbar

The same settings drive the AB-line lightbar in Field Survey.

Tap the lightbar

Tap anywhere on the row of coloured blocks across the top of the map. Guidance Sensitivity opens over the map.

The lightbar: a row of blocks across the top of the map, grey in the centre then green, amber and red to the right, label 393 inches under the centre
  1. The lightbar. Tap it.

Drag a slider

Each setting has a slider: drag the dot right for more, left for less. The line under each name shows the value as you drag. The table below says what each one does.

The three sliders in Guidance Sensitivity: Lightbar full deflection, Each block ≈ 2.6 in • full bar = 39.4 in; On-track tolerance, Cross-track under 3.9 in counts as on track; Edge buffer (boundary inset), Suppress contours within 11.8 in of the data edge 1 2 3
  1. Lightbar full deflection. How far off fills the bar.
  2. On-track tolerance. How close counts as on the line.
  3. Edge buffer (boundary inset). Hides contours near the edge of the data.

Tap Save

Save is the green button at the bottom right of the window. The lightbar uses the new settings straight away. Cancel keeps the old ones.

Guidance Sensitivity open over the map, with Cancel and a green Save button at the bottom
  1. Save. Tap it.
SettingRangeDefaultUse
Lightbar full deflection0.2–3 m (8–118″)1 m (39.4″, each block ≈ 2.6″)Wider for rough shaping, tighter for finish work.
On-track tolerance2–50 cm (0.8–19.7″)10 cm (3.9″)Tighter for finish work. The lightbar's colour bands scale with it.
Edge buffer (boundary inset)0–3 m30 cm (11.8″)Raise it to keep contours off edges you can't reach; 0 turns the clipping off.

Record your coverage

Tap Start

With a contour active, tap Start at the top of the right-hand column as you begin the run. A band as wide as your Swath Width paints along your track (amber while you drive).

A contour active, with Start at the top of the right-hand column
  1. Start. Tap it.

Build the levee, then tap Stop

While you record, the button reads Stop with a red square and the point count, for example Stop (4). Drive and build as usual. At the end of the run, tap Stop.

The top of the right-hand column while recording: Stop (4) with a red square, then Next Contour and Deselect 1
  1. Stop (4). Tap it at the end of the run.

Check the run is saved

The run turns violet and joins the rest of your coverage, the button goes back to Start, and the counter at the top right counts the runs (1 levees).

After Start, a short drive and Stop: a thin violet coverage run along the contour, counter 1 levees in the top bar
  1. Coverage. Violet once the run is stopped.
  2. 1 levees. Runs recorded.

Coverage is your record only. It never moves the blade, and it stays on the map when you change contours. Only Clear All wipes it from the screen.

Save, load and clear jobs

Tap the Save button

The job saves itself when contours are drawn and after each coverage run or boundary change, under a dated name. To give it a name you'll recognise, tap the purple button in the right-hand column that shows the job's name (Save "Levee 2026-…" at first). Save Levee Job opens.

The right-hand column with the purple Save "Levee 2026… button
  1. Save "Levee 2026…". Tap it.

Type a name

The Job name box starts with "Levee" and the date. Tap it, clear it and type your own name, such as the field (typing).

Save Levee Job: Job name North levee, Cancel and Save 1
  1. Job name. Type your own.

Tap Save

Save is at the bottom right of the window. A message confirms it: Saved job "North levee", and the purple button now shows the new name.

Save Levee Job with the Save button at the bottom right
  1. Save. Tap it.

Load a saved job

Tap Load Saved Job

On the Levee screen with nothing loaded, it's the button under Continue previous work (or Load Job at the bottom of the right-hand column). If something is already loaded it asks Discard current work? first: tap Discard and load.

Levee start panel with Load Saved Job under Continue previous work
  1. Load Saved Job. Tap it.

Tap the job

Each row shows the job's name, boundary points, build runs and date. Tap the one you want. The contours are rebuilt from the saved surface, the boundary and coverage come back, and the contour you were on is picked again. With no jobs saved it says No saved Levee jobs found yet.

Load Levee Job: North levee, Boundary: 0 pts • Build: 1 seg • date, and an older dated job, each with a bin icon, Cancel 2
  1. A saved job. Tap to load it.
  2. Bin. Deletes the job straight away.
  • Clear All clears the contours, boundary, coverage and surface from the screen straight away, with no confirmation. Saved jobs are not touched; load one to get it back.
  • Coming back after the base was moved? Following a contour is sideways guidance, so there's nothing to calibrate for it. Add to a field survey only after calibrating to its benchmark (Field Survey benchmarks).

If something goes wrong

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