THE RESEARCH PLAYBOOK
Figure 3 . Maps of target area overlapped on softball fields at Veterans Park across manual , GNSS , and GNSS + autosteer sprayer technologies ( rows ) and operator experience ( columns ).
Only the 422FC11004 nozzles were used at Veterans Park in manual mode because individual nozzle control could not be turned off when dual nozzles were active — resulting in a lower spray volume since the sprayer isn ’ t designed for single-nozzle operation . Therefore , the percent target area overspray was analyzed separately by location , as the manual total volume applied data from Veterans Park was unreliable . However , this issue did not affect the percent of the target area missed and overlapped , as spatial spray data were recorded for all treatments .
MISSES , OVERLAPS AND OVERSPRAY ON SOFTBALL / BASEBALL FIELDS The results for percent target area missed were similar across locations , so data were combined for treatments and locations . Inexperienced operators using manual sprayers had the highest percentage of missed areas ( 3.7 %), while experienced operators showed no major differences across sprayer technologies . There was also no difference in missed areas between GNSS and GNSS + autosteer , regardless of operator experience . Southwood Athletic Park had more missed areas ( 2.4 %) compared to Veterans Park ( 1.4 %).
For percent target area overlapped , results differed by location , so data are presented separately for each . At Veterans Park , the manual sprayer used by inexperienced operators caused the highest overlap ( 8.3 %). In other cases , both experienced and inexperienced
Figure 4 . Maps of target area overlapped on soccer fields at Southwood Athletic Park across manual , GNSS , and GNSS + autosteer sprayer technologies ( rows ) and operator experience ( columns ).
operators performed similarly across sprayer technologies . As technology advanced , overlap decreased , with GNSS + autosteer reducing overlap to less than 2 % ( Figure 3 ).
At Veterans Park , overspray was similar between operators within each technology level , but advanced technology reduced overspray . GNSS + autosteer led to 2.1 % overspray compared to 6.3 % with GNSS , saving 4 % of the total water volume . For inexperienced operators , autosteer reduced overspray by 3.3 %.
At Southwood Athletic Park , there were no significant differences in overspray between operators within each technology level , but experienced operators generally had higher overspray . While there wasn ’ t a clear advantage between manual and GNSS or GNSS and GNSS + autosteer , switching from manual to GNSS + autosteer significantly reduced overspray . For experienced operators , overspray dropped from 11.5 % with manual to 6.5 %; and for inexperienced operators , it dropped from 9.7 % to 5.7 %, resulting in a 3.7 % reduction in total water used .
36 SportsField Management | November 2024 sportsfieldmanagementonline . com