Urban Observatory API (Urban Sciences Building) — Timeseries

openapi: 3.2.0
x-provenance:
  method: derived
  x-source-url: https://api.usb.urbanobservatory.ac.uk/openapi.json
  generated: '2026-08-30'
  x-operator: institution
  derived_from: openapi/_original/newcastle-urban-observatory.yaml
  note: >-
    A per-tag split produced by API Evangelist's refine-openapis from Newcastle University's own
    published Urban Observatory OpenAPI. The contract is Newcastle's; this per-tag serialisation is
    ours. urbanobservatory.ac.uk is registered to the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and served
    from ns0/ns1.ncl.ac.uk; api.usb.urbanobservatory.ac.uk resolves to UOWEB4.ncl.ac.uk.
info:
  title: 'Urban Observatory API: Urban Sciences Building Entity Timeseries API'
  version: 2.0a
  description: "The Urban Observatory represents the largest open platform of urban sensing data in the United Kingdom. The updated API is currently in operation for the Urban Sciences Building and some of the newer data sources across the city. It is anticipated that this schema, once complete, will replace the existing API.\n\nFor more information...\n* [Data explorer](https://3d.usb.urbanobservatory.ac.uk/) \n* [Live stream](https://api.usb.urbanobservatory.ac.uk/live/) \n* [Newcastle University](https://www.ncl.ac.uk/) \n* [Urban Observatory](http://www.urbanobservatory.ac.uk/) \n\nYou can also download this specification in [OpenAPI](openapi.json) format."
  contact:
    name: Luke Smith
    email: luke.smith@ncl.ac.uk
    url: http://www.urbanobservatory.ac.uk/
servers:
- url: https://api.usb.urbanobservatory.ac.uk/api/v2.0a
  description: Urban Sciences Building production API
tags:
- name: Timeseries
  description: There may be more than one timeseries associated with a feed, provided for convenience. Ordinarily there will be a plain timeseries, representing raw data from the device. In some cases, there may then be additional timeseries representing converted values (e.g. scaled), corrected, or aggregated temporally.
paths:
  /api/v2.0a/sensors/timeseries/{id}:
    get:
      operationId: TimeseriesController.getOne
      summary: Request a single timeseries by its unique ID
      description: A single timeseries and its current value will be returned, if recent, provided a valid ID is supplied and permissions permit.
      tags:
      - Timeseries
      parameters:
      - in: path
        name: id
        description: Timeseries ID to retrieve description and latest observed value for.
        required: true
        schema:
          type: string
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Successful request
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Timeseries'
        '400':
          description: Bad request
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/BadRequest'
  /api/v2.0a/sensors/timeseries/{id}/historic:
    get:
      operationId: TimeseriesController.getHistoric
      summary: Request historic data from a timeseries by its unique ID and a date range
      description: A date range may be specified to obtain historic readings from a timeseries, or the last 24 hours will be provided by default.
      tags:
      - Timeseries
      parameters:
      - in: path
        name: id
        description: Timeseries ID to retrieve historic data for.
        required: true
        schema:
          type: string
      - in: query
        name: startTime
        description: Start period for the historic data to be retrieved, inclusive.
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
          default: 24 hours in past
      - in: query
        name: endTime
        description: End period for the historic data to be retrieved, inclusive.
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
          default: 24 hours in future
      - in: query
        name: outputAs
        description: Output format for the data, although JSON is always recommended and CSV outputs are computed from JSON.
        required: false
        schema:
          type: string
          default: json
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Successful request
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: object
                properties:
                  timeseries:
                    $ref: '#/components/schemas/Timeseries'
                  historic:
                    type: object
                    properties:
                      startTime:
                        type: string
                        format: date-time
                        description: The specified or computed start time, with any values before this time omitted.
                      endTime:
                        type: string
                        format: date-time
                        description: The specified or computed end time, with any values after this time omitted.
                      limited:
                        type: boolean
                        description: A flag indicating whether the historic series was truncated, because too many values would have been returned.
                      values:
                        type: array
                        items:
                          $ref: '#/components/schemas/TimeseriesEntry'
                    example:
                      startTime: '2018-02-11T10:31:04.065Z'
                      endTime: '2018-02-13T10:31:04.065Z'
                      limited: false
                      values:
                      - time: '2018-02-12T10:30:40.125Z'
                        duration: -4.284
                        value: 3.23809
                      - time: '2018-02-12T10:30:08.269Z'
                        duration: -4.386
                        value: 3.31608
        '400':
          description: Bad request
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/BadRequest'
        '403':
          description: Forbidden
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Forbidden'
components:
  schemas:
    Unit:
      type: object
      description: The units associated with the values held in the timeseries.
      properties:
        unitId:
          type: string
          format: uuid
          description: A unique identifier for the units associated with timeseries.
        name:
          type: string
          description: A friendly description for the units used.
      example:
        unitId: 19bc95ba-83f2-4dcd-b49e-5e5415c75771
        name: amperes
    BadRequest:
      type: object
      description: An invalid ID or query parameter was used to request information, such as an ID not in the [UUID syntax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universally_unique_identifier).
      properties:
        error:
          type: boolean
          description: Indicator that an error was returned.
        message:
          type: string
          description: Description of the error which occurred in friendly terms.
        code:
          type: string
          description: A short description of the error, for use in code.
          enum:
          - MalformedUUID
          - BadRequestError
      example:
        error: true
        message: Malformed UUID cannot be used.
        code: MalformedUUID
    Link:
      type: object
      description: A link provided for [HATEOAS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HATEOAS) purposes, to the item itself or an associated API method.
      properties:
        rel:
          type: string
          description: The relation of the URL to the entity in the API, which will be taken from [this list](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Link_types) where possible, but non-standard relations are permitted.
        href:
          type: string
          description: An absolute URL for the resource.
        method:
          type: string
          description: The HTTP protocol method to be used, or `GET` if not specified.
          default: GET
          enum:
          - GET
          - POST
          - PATCH
          - PUT
          - DELETE
      example:
        rel: self
        href: https://api.usb.urbanobservatory.ac.uk/api/v2.0a/sensors/timeseries/371fbff8-f61d-4f66-99be-7d9de8ad51f2/historic
    TimeseriesEntry:
      type: object
      description: A historic entry associated with a timeseries and a time.
      properties:
        time:
          type: string
          format: date-time
          description: Date and time associated with the historic value
        duration:
          type: number
          description: The duration this value applies to, or if negative, the window of error in which the value change could have occurred.
        value:
          description: The value associated with the time in the timeseries, unless the timeseries does not contain values (i.e. event only).
        error:
          type: boolean
          description: Indication that an error occurred, and data could not be supplied.
        message:
          type: string
          description: Short description of why data could not be supplied.
        description:
          type: string
          description: Verbose description of why an error occurred and data could not be supplied.
      example:
        time: '2018-02-12T10:30:40.125Z'
        duration: -2.1
        value: 3.5
    Storage:
      type: object
      description: The storage mechanism used to hold the data internally.
      properties:
        unitId:
          type: string
          format: uuid
          description: A unique identifier for the storage used for this data within the internal systems.
        name:
          type: string
          description: A name for the storage, usually those used in programming (e.g. real, integer)
        suffix:
          type: string
          description: The suffix used for data storage in the internal systems.
      example:
        storageId: 3
        name: Real
        suffix: real
    Timeseries:
      type: object
      properties:
        timeseriesId:
          type: string
          format: uuid
          description: A unique identifier associated with this timeseries.
        unit:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Unit'
        storage:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Storage'
        derivatives:
          type: array
          description: Placeholder for future use.
        aggregation:
          type: array
          description: Placeholder for future use.
        assessments:
          type: array
          description: Placeholder for future use.
        latest:
          description: The most recent timeseries entry, only shown if within the last week, and a historic range has not been requested. Code must be resilient if `latest` is omitted from a timeseries.
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/TimeseriesEntry'
        links:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Link'
      example:
        timeseriesId: 371fbff8-f61d-4f66-99be-7d9de8ad51f2
        unit:
          unitId: 19bc95ba-83f2-4dcd-b49e-5e5415c75771
          name: amperes
        storage:
          storageId: 3
          name: Real
          suffix: real
        derivatives: []
        aggregation: []
        assessments: []
        latest:
          time: '2018-02-12T10:30:40.125Z'
          duration: -2.1
          value: 3.5
        links:
        - href: https://api.usb.urbanobservatory.ac.uk/api/v2.0a/sensors/timeseries/371fbff8-f61d-4f66-99be-7d9de8ad51f2
          rel: self
    Forbidden:
      type: object
      description: The requested data could not be returned, because permissions do not permit.
      properties:
        error:
          type: boolean
          description: Indicator that an error was returned.
        message:
          type: string
          description: Description of the error which occurred in friendly terms.
        code:
          type: string
          description: A short description of the error, for use in code.
          enum:
          - ForbiddenError
      example:
        error: true
        message: No access to this timeseries.
        code: ForbiddenError