Historical Soil Sensor Readings for Parks in Melbourne

City of Melbourne Open Data provides historical readings for soil sensors monitoring salinity, temperature, and moisture in city parks. The dataset contains a large number of records and can be joined to a separate sensor locations dataset using a site ID. An attachment file contains the complete historical data for 2023.

Use Cases

• Model soil moisture trends based on volumetric water content readings.
• Analyze salinity levels in park soils over time.
• Correlate soil temperature with seasonal weather patterns.
• Identify sensor coverage gaps or reporting inconsistencies across different park sites.

Strengths

• Includes three distinct, defined measurement types: volumetric water content (%VWC), temperature (ºC), and salinity (µS/cm).
• Offers a complete historical data file for the year 2023 for download.
• Designed to be joined with a separate sensor locations dataset for spatial analysis.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The description notes there may be missing hourly readings for some sensors or sites.

Provenance

Source

City of Melbourne Open Data

Collection Method

Likely collected from automated soil sensor devices installed in parks.

Time Range

Includes historical data, with a specific file noted for 2023.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-27 10:25:40.038452; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Parks across the City of Melbourne, Australia.