A METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE CONDITION OF A TURF SPORTING AREA

A vehicle (10) for measuring a turf sporting area comprising: a carriage assembly (11) comprising at least one movable cartridge (41) having a plurality of sensors (43) and probes, the movable cartridge (41) being configured to move along a lateral axis and stop at discrete predetermined measurement positions for the plurality of sensors (43) and probes to perform a measurement; and a drive assembly (61) operatively connected to the movable cartridge (41) and configured to drive a shear measurement device (48) at a predetermined angle into the ground to calculate a turf shear value corresponding to a compaction of a subsurface soil of the turf sporting area; wherein the sensors (43) include a moisture meter, GPS receiver (45) and a multispectral cameras to respectively provide the measurements of moisture level, GPS location co-ordinates and a reflectance image in a selected wavelength band within the electromagnetic spectrum of a predetermined zone of the turf sporting area, wherein the wavelength band is se