Sensors are a useful tool to help us understand our parks and other open spaces. For instance, they can tell us how usage changes over time, opportunities for improvement, the impact of developments and, importantly, help us to have conversations with the community.

Argyle Square in Carlton was the first Melbourne open space to be ‘sensed’. We’ve been collecting and storing data from Argyle Square since 2020. Royal Park was our second 'Data in the park' project, enabling us to trial new types of sensors and develop insights about park usage.

We have started implementing sensors in Birrarung Marr. Some of the sensors we’re using have been tested in other parts of the city such as the Bluetooth sensors that are part of our Pedestrian Counting System and micro-climate sensors in parks including Argyle Square and Royal Park. We’ll also be trialing new sensors in order to capture useful data.

Data collected will help provide insights into areas such as:

• the busiest times and days
• the key modes of transport and how their usage patterns differ
• the micro-climates here and how user behaviour changes in different conditions
• the seasonal trends for usage
• the most used equipment in the playground
• the least popular playground equipment
• the usage of seating near the playground and around the park
• the most popular places in the park and the duration people spend in the area.

We’re currently exploring how different sensor types could provide useful data. We’ll continue to update this page as we implement new sensors and share any useful data via a dashboard.

We will share insights with the community when we have collected quality data. We will work with planners and park managers to review the data and plan future designs and improvements.

Click ‘Follow’ to get notified about project updates. You can also reach out to us with any comments or questions at smart.cities@melbourne.vic.gov.au.

• Skyfii mobile phone counting pedestrian sensor - there is currently one installed and we plan to install three more to understand activities in different areas of the park. This sensor is plugged into a continual power source.
• Ouster OS1 Li-DAR people counting sensor – this is a new type of sensor we’re trialling. This sensor is plugged into a continual power source.
• IMS305 Industrial Meteorological Station - we are using this sensor to capture data on air quality, temperature and other environmental factors.
• Xovis 3D sensor - this sensor was first trialled at Micro-Labs. We are using it to understand pedestrian activity near Batman Avenue.
• Digital Matter Yabby Edge - an accelerometer that detects movement using battery power, used to understand playground and bench activity.

• The Skyfii mobile phone counting pedestrian sensor counts the number of devices that emit a Bluetooth signal. We de-identify each Bluetooth signal and randomise it so it is not personally traceable.
• The Ouster sensor uses Li-DAR technology. Li-DAR stands for Light Detection and Ranging and uses a laser to emit light. It measures the time for the light to reflect off an object and return to the sensor. Li-DAR is useful technology to get an accurate understanding of activity in specific areas.
• The Micro-climate sensor captures a range of data including temperature, humidity, particulate matter in the air and more.
• Yabby sensors in the playground will count playground equipment usage as well as picnic table usage. Data collected will help us understand how people use the playground, including which items are used more than others, which equipment needs maintenance most frequently and peak times of use.
  

• The Skyfii Bluetooth sensor sends data across telecommunications networks via a SIM card.
• The Ouster Li-DAR sensor also sends data via a SIM card.
• The Micro-climate sensor sends data via LoRaWAN, Low Range Wide Area Network. This network is used for devices that only need to send small amounts of data.
• The Yabby Edge sensors use a low power wide area network (LoRaWAN) to send the data. The data is sent to the City of Melbourne’s data lake.
  

The data is used by City of Melbourne to design, plan and maintain Birrarung Marr and other green spaces in the city. The data will be shared with the community via a dashboard on this page soon. Stay tuned.