Municipality & Recreation

Know your fields are
ready to play on

Fieldmouse gives groundskeepers and councils real-time visibility of soil moisture, weather conditions, and surface status — so you can protect playing surfaces, automate irrigation, and manage field closures from anywhere.

24/7
Surface condition
monitoring
30%
Typical water
use reduction
<5s
Sensor data
refresh rate

The Challenge

Playing surfaces are expensive assets — and the hardest to manage remotely

Natural turf requires a precise balance of moisture, aeration, and rest. Too dry and the surface becomes unsafe; too wet and games cause compaction damage that takes weeks to recover. Without real-time data, groundskeepers are making decisions based on guesswork or manual inspection — often from the other side of town.

Councils managing multiple ovals, parks, and recreation reserves face the added complexity of coordinating bookings, weather events, and irrigation across dozens of sites simultaneously. A heavy downpour that saturates one field may leave another completely dry — and without sensors on the ground, you won't know until someone reports a problem.

The cost of getting it wrong is significant: damaged turf, cancelled events, community complaints, and expensive rescheduling or resurfacing works.

"Fieldmouse proactively actions the asset — as opposed to just monitoring and providing alerts."

  • No real-time surface data — decisions about watering or closure made from memory or scheduled inspection rather than live conditions
  • Over and under-watering — fixed irrigation schedules ignore rainfall, soil saturation, and seasonal variation
  • Reactive field closures — fields discovered as unplayable on match day rather than managed proactively
  • No audit trail — can't demonstrate due diligence to clubs or insurers when injury disputes arise
  • Manual water meter reading — council unable to track irrigation consumption or identify leaks without site visits
  • Weather events catch teams off-guard — no automated response to rainfall, frost, or extreme heat events

How Fieldmouse Helps

Monitor surfaces, automate irrigation, manage access

A connected network of field sensors feeds real-time data into the Fieldmouse platform, enabling automated irrigation decisions and proactive surface management.

Soil Moisture Monitoring

Continuous soil moisture readings at configurable depths give groundskeepers an accurate, real-time picture of surface conditions — across every field, from a single dashboard.

Weather-Responsive Irrigation

Live weather data — rainfall, temperature, humidity — automatically adjusts irrigation run times. Fields that received natural rainfall skip scheduled watering. Dry periods trigger additional cycles automatically.

Remote Field Access Control

Gate locks and boom gates can be remotely controlled from the platform. Close fields in response to weather events or surface damage — and reopen them without attending the site.

Surface Condition Alerts

Threshold alerts fire when moisture levels fall outside acceptable ranges, rainfall totals exceed closure thresholds, or temperature drops signal frost risk — giving staff time to act before match day.

Water Usage Sub-Metering

Pulse and 4–20mA flow meter inputs track irrigation consumption per zone. Identify overuse, detect leaks, and produce water usage reports for council reporting and budgeting.

Condition & Closure Reporting

Every sensor reading, irrigation event, and field closure is time-stamped and stored. Produce historical surface condition reports for clubs, insurers, or council compliance purposes.

Capability

What you can monitor, control, and automate

A full breakdown of the Fieldmouse sports field management capability set.

CapabilityMonitorControlAlert
Surface Conditions
Soil Moisture (single & multi-depth)
Surface Temperature
Rainfall Accumulation
Irrigation
Zone On / Off Control
Weather-Adjusted Scheduling
Flow & Pressure Monitoring
Leak Detection
Access & Reporting
Gate / Access Remote Control
Water Usage by Zone / Site
Surface Condition History & Export

Key Outcomes

What operators typically achieve

Indicative results based on typical deployments. Your results will vary by site count, existing infrastructure, and usage patterns.

30%

Water Use Reduction

Weather-responsive scheduling and soil moisture-triggered irrigation eliminates unnecessary watering cycles and reduces annual water consumption significantly.

Damage

Reduced Surface Damage

Proactive closure decisions based on real moisture data prevent the compaction and tearing damage caused by play on saturated fields.

1-click

Compliance Reporting

Full historical surface condition records available on demand for council audits, club disputes, insurer requests, and grant acquittals.

Fieldmouse Devices

Hardware used in this solution

Field management deployments use Scout for environmental sensing and Runner for irrigation and access control.

Talk to us about sports field management

Whether you manage two ovals or fifty, Fieldmouse scales to fit. Get in touch to discuss your specific setup.

Get in Touch