{smcl}
{* *! version 1.0.1  13oct2016}{...}
{cmd:help fieldarea}
{hline}

{title:Title}

{p2colset 5 16 18 2}{...}
{p2col:{hi: fieldarea} {hline 2} Calculate the area of an irregularly-shaped field from GPS coordinates of its vertices.}
{p_end}
{p2colreset}{...}


{title:Syntax}

{p 8 12 2}
{opt fieldarea}
{it:longvar}
{it:latvar}
{cmd:,}
{opt gen:erate(newvarname)}
[{opt id(idvarname)}
{opt unit(unitname)}
]


{title:Description}

{pstd}
{cmd:fieldarea} processes GPS data describing boundaries of plots (parcels). 
The coordinates (latitude and longitude) of vertices are assumed to be stored
in degrees (and fractions of degrees). If the file describes multiple parcels,
it must also contain a single ID variable, inentifying the parcel. Numeric and 
string ID variables are permitted.

{pstd}
{cmd:fieldarea} approximates parcels with polygons and collapses the dataset
of vertex coordinates to a plot-level dataset computing the area of (each) plot
as an area of a polygon. The area is reported in square meters by default, but
other units can be requested with the optional {opt unit()} specification. 
Possible values for units are: sqm, sqft, sqyard, acre, sqmile, hectare, sqkm.

{pstd}
{cmd:fieldarea} is aware that the Earth is not flat, and corrects the length 
of latitude and longitude degrees separately for each plot depending on its 
latitude. However, for the same plot the length of a degree is assumed 
constant (which is reasonable for agricultural fields and residential land 
parcels, but may not be applicable to large areas such as countries, reserves, 
seas, etc). The correction is based on the 
{browse "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Geodetic_System":WGS84} model.

{pstd}
For polygons containing only 1 or 2 boundary points, the area is calculated as 
zero. This situation is technically allowed, but may be a symptom of incorrect 
data entry.

{title:Author}

{phang}
{opt fieldarea} was written by {it:Sergiy Radyakin}, sradyakin(at)worldbank.org{p_end}


{title:Examples}

The following example will compute the (approximate) area of a stadium in Stockholm:
{phang}{cmd:. {stata `"do "http://www.radyakin.org/stata/fieldarea/fieldarea_ex_stockholm.do""':do "http://www.radyakin.org/stata/fieldarea/fieldarea_ex_stockholm.do"}}{p_end}
{pstd}The line that is actually calling {cmd:fieldarea}
{cmd:fieldarea lon lat, generate(area)}
takes longitude and latitude variables as inputs and generates the area variable 
as output. Only one observation will remain in the dataset because there is only 
one plot.

The next example will compute the (approximate) area of the footprint of an 
irregularly shaped building.
{phang}{cmd:. {stata `"do "http://www.radyakin.org/stata/fieldarea/fieldarea_ex_jbuilding.do""':do "http://www.radyakin.org/stata/fieldarea/fieldarea_ex_jbuilding.do"}}{p_end}
{pstd}The line that is actually calling {cmd:fieldarea}
{cmd:fieldarea x y, generate(area) unit(sqft)}
takes x and y variables as inputs and creates a new variable area as output. The 
result is expressed in square feet as specified in the option unit.

The final example demonstrates how to compute the (approximate) area of a number 
of different plots.
{phang}{cmd:. {stata `"do "http://www.radyakin.org/stata/fieldarea/fieldarea_ex_multiple.do""':do "http://www.radyakin.org/stata/fieldarea/fieldarea_ex_multiple.do"}}{p_end}
{pstd}The line that is actually calling {cmd:fieldarea}
{cmd:fieldarea x y, id(id) generate(area)}
takes x and y variables as inputs and creates a new variable area as output, the 
vertices of different plots are identified by the values of variable id.


{title:Also see}

{psee}
Online: {browse "http://www.radyakin.org/stata/fieldarea/fieldarea.htm": fieldarea homepage}

