The CeRDI Observations System is the engine that powers how the Visualising Australasia’s Soils (VAS) platform collects, processes, and publishes soil and environmental data.
It’s built on international data standards (ISO 19156 / OGC O&M) to make sure data from farms, labs, and research partners can be shared and understood consistently across Australia and New Zealand.

How it works:

1. Upload & Validation:
   Contributors (such as grower groups, labs, and government partners) upload soil datasets through a structured Excel template.
   The system automatically checks each file for formatting issues, missing values, or incorrect units before it’s accepted.
   Once verified, the data is mapped into the standard schema, separating observations, procedures, features of interest, and results for consistent integration.

2. Database Storage:
   Clean, validated data is stored in a secure PostgreSQL / TimescaleDB database developed by CeRDI.
   This architecture supports large environmental datasets, time-series information, and spatial relationships between soil samples.

3. API & Access:
   Through PostgREST and JSON-LD services, the data becomes available to the VAS portal and other research systems.
   This allows scientists, land managers, and the public to search, visualise, and download standardised soil information directly.

Together, these layers form a seamless pipeline from data submission to public access, ensuring that every dataset in VAS is accurate, interoperable, and FAIR-compliant (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable).