Intensive Spatial Mapping of Community Sports Fields: Application for Performance Testing.

Performance testing of sports fields for assessment of player safety and field playability has been an area of active research since the early 1980s.  Assessment, however, continues to be based on only 5-15 sample sites on a sports field with locations dependent on the sport. An intensive sampling grid with GPS-labeled measurements of key soil and plant parameters would provide a more detailed  assessment of field spatial variability and allow for use of geospatial information systems (GIS) mapping and statistical tools to: a) explore relationships between measured parameters; and b) to develop GIS maps and statistical approaches to define field performance metrics at various spatial scales (whole area, zone of influence of each irrigation head, head to head, field sections, etc.). This presentation discusses the use of the mobile Toro Precision™ Sense 6000 (patent pending) data acquisition unit for performance testing of community sports fields. This unit has multiple-sensor capability for soil volumetric water content (VWC), penetrometer resistance, salinity, plant performance, and topography; all with GPS labeling.  Additional mobile sensor platforms are also in various phases of development for field hardness, traction, and other field assessment characteristics. Our performance testing protocol is based on a wall-to-wall assessment of the whole area using a sample grid of 2.5 x 2.5 m, which for an American football field would be approximately 650 to 750 measurement locations with a measurement time of 1-2 hrs.