Akkerweb and farmmaps: Development of Open Service Platforms for Precision Agriculture

The development of the Akkerweb service platform (https://akkerweb.eu) was started around 2010. It is an open platform in precision farming, providing the maps, services, data, and connections required, in principle, for any smart farming application envisioned. This includes background maps, services for weather data, satellite images, soil maps, crop polygons, etc., but also visualization tools, an app store, a task map generator, and crop growth models. Akkerweb provides the infrastructure needed to develop an application easily using the available services and to publish it on the Akkerweb platform. Moreover, Akkerweb applications can also run on other websites, seemingly as stand-alone applications with the look and feel of the customer’s website.

A unique point of the Akkerweb service platform is the availability of several science-based agronomic models which are currently made available as APIs for use in smart farming applications. Examples of these models are those to calculate water availability (Watbal model), potato crop growth (Tipstar model), late blight infection (Blight module), and nematode management (Nemadecide) at individual field and within-field levels. Other models are available for variable-rate application of soil herbicides and fungicides against blight, nitrogen top-dress application in potato and potato haulm killing. In total, Akkerweb has more than 30 apps.

farmmaps (https://farmmaps.eu) is the next version of Akkerweb. It has a new data repository and management system as well as a new, more intuitive dashboard design running on all devices. It became available first in 2021.