Since installing sensors in Royal Park, we’ve done many site visits to ensure information we’re collecting is useful and accurate.

Sensor ‘calibration’ is an important step for sensing open spaces. Calibration involves checking information collected by a sensor against the real information observed. Depending on the information, tweaks are made to the sensitivity of the sensor, the location of the sensor or other factors to ensure only relevant data are collected.

For example, when a slide is used only once upon observation but the data sensors recorded has a higher count, we can identify the sensor settings are too sensitive and make adjustments. We would test the slide again and complete a similar process for all sensors several times. We try to achieve a minimum of 60 per cent accuracy. When we analyse the data, we take sensor accuracy into consideration.

In the coming weeks an AIRS (Artificial Intelligence Road Survey Sensor) sensor will be installed at the Nature Playground to collect information about different transport modes such as walking and cycling, as well as popular paths and peak times. This sensor will also need to be calibrated during site visits for accurate recording.

We will continue to calibrate the sensors over the next few months.

Learn about the technology we’re using on the project page.