Levee & Contour Guidance

What this mode is for

Levee mode draws the elevation contours of a field on the map and steers you down any one of them. Driving a contour means driving a line of constant elevation — exactly the path you follow to push up a levee, build a terrace ridge, or smooth a field along the lay of the land. The blade is not automatic in this mode: you steer, and the app shows you where the contour is with a lightbar and on-screen arrows. It is pure steering guidance, the same idea as a lightbar autosteer, but following the ground's elevation instead of a straight crop row.

You get the contours from elevation data — a "surface" of the field. You can survey that surface yourself by driving the field, or bring it in from a file or a free LiDAR download. Once the contours are drawn, you pick one and drive it.

Use Levee mode when:

• You are building or topping levees, paddy dikes, or terrace ridges and need to hold a constant elevation.
• You want to smooth or land-plane a field by working along its natural contours.
• You have elevation data for a field (you surveyed it, or you have a file) and want guidance, not automatic blade control.

This section also covers AB-line guidance on the Field Survey screen — straight, evenly spaced parallel passes for driving a field methodically. It uses the same lightbar and arrows, so it is documented here alongside contour following.

Equipment you need

Generating contours and following them require a connected Ditch Assist control module — at minimum the guidance-only kit — or the built-in simulator. Without one of those, you can still survey a field, import data, and export it, but the contour lines will not generate and guidance will not start. If you tap a guidance action with no module connected, the app tells you so.

Workflow at a glance:

1. Connect to the control module (or start the simulator).
2. From Home, tap the Levee card. Choose Survey New Field or Use Existing Data.
3. Get elevation data: survey by driving, import a GeoTIFF, load a saved LiDAR DEM (prepared earlier in the LiDAR & Mapping workflow while online), load a saved survey, or import a point file.
4. Confirm or draw the field boundary.
5. Set the contour interval, then let the app build the elevation surface and contours.
6. Pick a contour (Select Nearest, Next Contour, or tap one on the map) and drive it, steering by the lightbar and arrows.
7. Tap Start to record your coverage as you build. Save Job so you can resume later.

The next pages walk through each step.

In this chapter

• Before you start
• Quick start
• Getting elevation data
• Surveying a field by driving
• The field boundary
• Generating the contours
• Following a contour
• Building & recording coverage
• Calibration & benchmarks
• Saving & resuming jobs
• AB-line guidance (Field Survey)
• Tips & gotchas
• Troubleshooting