A Novel Use of GPS Track Data to Detect and Evaluate Village Footpaths to Fragmented Farm Lands and Route Selections by Farmers

Abstract

Farmland fragmentation is considered to have negative impacts on agricultural productivity in many parts of the world, yet innovative solutions to the problem are few and far between. A prerequisite to quantify the magnitude of these negative effects and draw socially and economically optimal policy strategies is to acquire accurate geographic information such as the location of farming farm lands, the connection of roads and footpaths, and the time required for farmers to reach their multiple farm lands. In this study, we developed a new methodology to spatially detect individual farm lands, village footpaths and farmers' commuting routes to farm lands, and then applied the proposed algorithm to an original set of GPS track data from Yunnan, China, where very little geographical information was available despite a high degree of land fragmentation faced by local farmers. Our analysis of farmers' route selections revealed that, under the condition that farmland fragmentation increases the commuting time, some villagers make long detours to avoid steep slopes on their way to farm lands.