Field guidelines and headlands
Short answer
For a field you have saved, Tractor GPS – Field Guidance can lay out the passes itself instead of you setting an A-B line. It offers a best-fit direction, lines parallel to any edge of the boundary, or an angle you set, ranks them by how many turns each needs, and can add up to ten headland lines around the edge.
Updated · Oran Dynamics
Laying out lines for a field
Open a saved field and go to Guidelines. The app works out the passes for the active implement's width using one of three methods:
- Best fit: a direction calculated from the field's overall shape.
- Parallel to an edge: pick any side of the boundary and the passes run alongside it. Useful when one hedge or road is the straight edge you always work off.
- Manual angle: rotate the pattern to a compass bearing of your choice.
The Choose Direction screen ranks the options by the number of turns each would take, so you can see which layout means the least time on the headland.
Headland lines
Set from 0 to 10 headland lines around the inside of the boundary, plus a field margin. Work the headlands first or last, the way you normally would; the lines show you where each headland pass should run.
Lines are saved
Guidelines are stored per field and per implement, so the sprayer's layout and the spreader's layout for the same field don't overwrite each other. They come back when you drive that field again or continue a job.
What you need first
A saved field boundary. You can draw one on the map by placing points, or create it from a job you have already driven. See measuring field acres.
Questions
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Yes, for a saved field. It offers best fit, parallel to a chosen boundary edge, or a manual angle, and ranks the options by number of turns.
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Yes. You can add between 0 and 10 headland lines around the inside of a saved field's boundary.
Try Tractor GPS on your iPhone
A–B guidance, live coverage mapping and field boundaries — using the phone you already own.
Download the appRelated
- Coverage mapping: see what you've covered Tractor GPS – Field Guidance paints worked ground on the map as you drive, in each implement's colour. Area covered counts overlaps once, jobs can be paused and continued, and everything is logged.
- Working width and overlap Why working width matters for GPS guidance, how to set it and the implement offset in Tractor GPS – Field Guidance, and how much overlap costs. Includes a free overlap calculator.
- How accurate is a phone as tractor GPS? Measured against an RTK reference, a dual-frequency iPhone is typically within 0.5–0.7 m side-to-side under open sky; older iPhones are typically within 4.9 m (GPS.gov). Which iPhones are dual-frequency, what the app adds, and when you need RTK.
- Phone vs light bar vs autosteer vs RTK: tractor GPS options and costs What each kind of tractor GPS costs and how accurate it is, with sourced prices: phone apps (about $30–$100 a year), light bars ($1,500–$2,000), autosteer kits ($3,000–$12,000+) and RTK corrections.