Measurement in Daily Life
Modern society simply could not exist without measurement. Twenty-first century civilization is inconceivable without the indispensable measurement tools on which everyday life depends. Time, size, distance, speed, direction, weight, volume, temperature, pressure, force, sound, light, energy—these are among the physical properties for which humans have developed accurate measures, without which we could not live our normal daily lives.
Measurement permeates every aspect of human life. Yet, ironically, we tend to take measurement for granted, and we fail to appreciate just how much we need and depend on our measurement tools. We overlook the importance of measurement because we are surrounded by it and have grown accustomed to it. It is only when our measurement tools malfunction or are unavailable that we begin to appreciate just how important they are.
This interactive map provides a few examples of where measurement has an impact on our lives.
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Measurement in Daily Life
The Measurement Standards Laboratory of New Zealand (MSL) is New Zealand's national metrology institute. MSL has primary responsibility to provide measurement standards in accordance with the International System of Units (SI). Explore our map to discover the types of measurements in action every day.
Click on the key to the left and then hover over the icons to explore how different types of measurements are applied to our everyday lives.
Kilogram (kg)
MSL is the caretaker of New Zealand’s primary kilogram. From this mass standard, MSL derives measurement standards for a number of other quantities, such as: pressure, volume, flow, torque, force and density.
Click on the icons to see how mass is applied to our everyday lives.
Metre (m)
Content for this section is coming soon.
Second (s)
MSL is the caretaker of New Zealand's primary standard for Time, which is generated from three atomic clocks.
Click on the icons to see how the Second is applied to our everyday lives.
Ampere (A)
MSL maintains New Zealand's primary standards for electrical quantities. This includes ac and dc current and voltage, resistance, capacitance, inductance, power, and energy.
Click on the icons to see how the Ampere is applied to our everyday lives.
Kelvin (K)
MSL maintains the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90), New Zealand’s primary standard for temperature measurement. From this standard, MSL derives scales for relative humidity and dew point.
Click on the icons to see how temperature is applied to our everyday lives.
Mole (mol)
MSL does not maintain the reference standard for the amount of a chemical substance.
Candela (cd)
MSL maintains New Zealand’s standard for luminous intensity, the candela. From this standard, MSL derives measurement standards for a wide range of other quantities related to light, such as: reflectance, transmittance, illuminance, radiance, spectral responsivity, and optical power.
Click on the icons to see how luminous intensity is applied to our everyday lives.
Weighbridge
Over 1500 weighbridges throughout New Zealand are used to confirm the weights of vehicles that use our roads. New Zealand’s trade measurement regulator ensures that large scales are calibrated with weights traceable to MSL’s mass standards.
Container Ship
Shipping containers are required by law to be weighed before loading onto a ship. This is a safety requirement to ensure a container ship is balanced and not overloaded. Containers can be weighed by weighbridges that are calibrated by weights traceable to New Zealand’s primary kilogram held by MSL.
Fuel Station
20,000 fuel dispensers deliver 6 billion litres of fuel each year in New Zealand. To ensure fair trade for both the fuel station and the consumer, each dispenser is routinely calibrated to make sure it is operating within a regulated tolerance. By filling a vessel of known volume and then weighing it, the amount of fuel dispensed can be made traceable to New Zealand’s primary kilogram held by MSL.
Mechanics
During a car service, the pressure within a tyre is checked and adjusted using an air compressor that has a pressure measuring device on the hose. These pressure measuring devices are required to be accurate for safety purposes as tyres that are under or over inflated can cause accidents or damage to a car.
Supermarket
There are over 20,000 scales throughout New Zealand used for weighing fresh produce such as bananas, fish, and nuts. Each scale is calibrated by an accredited technician using a set of weights traceable to New Zealand’s primary kilogram held by MSL. Calibrated scales ensure the buyer receives the amount they pay for.
Police Station
The New Zealand Police use portable axle scales to measure the weight of vehicles on New Zealand’s highways . Each axle scale is routinely calibrated using a set of weights traceable to New Zealand’s primary kilogram held by MSL. Removing overloaded vehicles from New Zealand’s highways is important for safety and prolongs the life of the road surface.
Farming
Billions of litres of milk are collected each year by milk trucks with calibrated volume meters that measure the amount of milk. These meters are calibrated by pumping through a known volume of liquid that has previously been weighed. This provides traceability back to MSL’s primary kilogram and gives confidence to our farmers, and the milk collectors, that the trade is fair.
Diver
Divers rely on a tank of compressed air to breathe while under the water. The tank is filled with air from a compressor that has a calibrated pressure gauge on it. The pressure gauge is traceable back to primary standards of pressure as it is important that the maximum safe working pressure of the tank is not exceeded during filling as this can cause cracks to form in the tank.
Wine Packer
New Zealand exports 250 million litres of wine each year. The wine bottling plants that support this industry are required to fill each bottle to a specified volume. New Zealand’s trade measurement regulator completes a statistical sampling exercise to check that the volume of wine in each bottle is, on average, the stated volume. If it were not, the wine company could receive a fine.
Second-Tier Calibration Laboratories
MSL maintains New Zealand’s measurement standards to the highest level of accuracy. For example, MSL has several high-accuracy 1-kilogram masses. MSL is at the top of the measurement pyramid and underneath there is a second tier of calibration laboratories, who send their measurement standards to MSL for calibration. The next tier below are the industry users who get their standards calibrated by second-tier calibration laboratories, and who use their own standards to test their instruments. Measurements must be reliable because important decisions depend on the them; for example, the fairness of a fuel dispenser or a correct reading from a blood pressure monitor. That is why the traceability of measurements back up the pyramid to MSL is so important.
Hospital
Accurate measurements are needed in hospitals and medical centres to ensure the safety and health of patients. Calibrated pipettes and balances for weighing (both medicine and patients) are needed to prepare accurate doses of medication. Calibrated peak flow meters provide a measure of lung function. Calibrated pressure gauges ensure accurate blood pressure measurements and the safe operation of ventilators.
Houses
Calibrated gas meters are used in houses all around New Zealand to ensure residents receive accurate charges for piped gas. These calibrated meters are checked by accredited second-tier calibration laboratories and are traceable to NZ's measurement standards.
MetService
Providing weather predictions is a tricky task that relies on measurements from pressure devices at over 200 weather stations in NZ. The MetService uses pressure measuring devices known as barometers, which are calibrated by MSL to ensure that their base data is accurate. Major decisions are based every day on the weather: is it safe to fly or sail? when should I plant or pick crops? or will I go to the outdoor food market or indoor supermarket this weekend?
Airport
The aviation industry is heavily regulated to ensure safe air travel. Many of the tools and instruments that ensure the successful take-off and landing of each flight are calibrated and traceable to NZ’s measurement standards.
For example: bolts on planes have to be tightened to a specific torque so they remain in place through the changing air pressure during a flight; the amount of fuel pumped into a plane is measured to ensure the plane can reach its destination with fuel to spare; the weights of cargo boxes loaded onto a plane is measured to ensure the load can be balanced; and a plane’s altimeter, which informs the pilots of altitude, is calibrated using pressure measuring devices that are traceable to NZ’s measurement standards.
For example: bolts on planes have to be tightened to a specific torque so they remain in place through the changing air pressure during a flight; the amount of fuel pumped into a plane is measured to ensure the plane can reach its destination with fuel to spare; the weights of cargo boxes loaded onto a plane is measured to ensure the load can be balanced; and a plane’s altimeter, which informs the pilots of altitude, is calibrated using pressure measuring devices that are traceable to NZ’s measurement standards.
Brewery
To provide customers with confidence that they are receiving the volume of beer stated on a can, MSL worked with New Zealand’s trade measurement regulator to develop a reliable, low-cost way to determine the volume of packaged beer products without having to destroy each sample. The method is based on measurements of mass and density which are traceable to MSL’s primary kilogram.
Hospital
The equipment used in hospitals needs to be kept clean and sterile in order to prevent infection. One way that hospitals can sterilise their equipment is using ultraviolet (UV) radiation. It is important that hospitals have calibrated UV meters so that they can measure how much UV they are exposing their instruments to.
Computer monitors in hospitals need to be calibrated to ensure operators can view sufficient detail in body scan images, such as from X-rays and MRIs.
Bilirubin lamps are used to treat jaundice in babies. MSL calibrates bilirubin meters to ensure that babies are exposed to a safe and suitable dose of blue light.
Computer monitors in hospitals need to be calibrated to ensure operators can view sufficient detail in body scan images, such as from X-rays and MRIs.
Bilirubin lamps are used to treat jaundice in babies. MSL calibrates bilirubin meters to ensure that babies are exposed to a safe and suitable dose of blue light.
Sun
MSL maintains a network of sensors in urban centres around New Zealand, which measure how much ultraviolet (UV) radiation we receive from the sun. This allows scientists and health experts to monitor our exposure and inform modelling for the future.
When sunshades are put up it is important that they shield people from harmful UV radiation. MSL tests shade-cloth materials to check their effectiveness in protecting people from UV radiation.
When sunshades are put up it is important that they shield people from harmful UV radiation. MSL tests shade-cloth materials to check their effectiveness in protecting people from UV radiation.
People on Beach
Swimsuits, hats, and other outdoor clothing can be designed to protect us from harmful ultraviolet (UV) light. Ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) testing is carried out at MSL to ensure that manufacturers have confidence that their products enable kiwis to enjoy the summer safely.
Office Buildings
Offices and other workplaces need to be well lit to create productive and healthy environments for people. Reliable lighting can be assured when lighting designers and installers measure light levels using calibrated light meters traceable to MSL.
Stadium
Stadium lighting needs to be carefully designed so that players, spectators, and television audiences can see what is happening on the field and the players are not blinded by the lights. Balancing measurements of glare and illuminance allows conflicting requirements to be met.
Streets
When it is dark, streetlights improve safety for pedestrians and vehicles. In order for city councils to demonstrate compliance with relevant documentary standards, MSL provides traceability for measurements of light levels.
At busy intersections, we rely on traffic lights to tell drivers and pedestrians who has the right of way. The traffic lights need to be visible in all lighting and weather conditions and the colours need to be clear. Measurements at MSL are used to ensure traffic lights used in New Zealand meet required standards.
Cats’ eye reflectors are used to mark the edges of road lanes so that drivers can clearly see lane boundaries when driving at night. It is important that these are sufficiently reflective so reflectance measurements at MSL are performed to confirm this. Internally illuminated road and runway markers are an alternative to reflective cats’ eye markers. MSL has tested these to ensure that the light distribution is of the correct intensity and angular direction.
At busy intersections, we rely on traffic lights to tell drivers and pedestrians who has the right of way. The traffic lights need to be visible in all lighting and weather conditions and the colours need to be clear. Measurements at MSL are used to ensure traffic lights used in New Zealand meet required standards.
Cats’ eye reflectors are used to mark the edges of road lanes so that drivers can clearly see lane boundaries when driving at night. It is important that these are sufficiently reflective so reflectance measurements at MSL are performed to confirm this. Internally illuminated road and runway markers are an alternative to reflective cats’ eye markers. MSL has tested these to ensure that the light distribution is of the correct intensity and angular direction.
Petrol Station
The integrity of gas and oil transfer pipes is monitored using non-destructive testing. Surfaces are covered with fluorescent dye, which shows up microcracks and defects under ultraviolet (UV) lighting. MSL provides calibration of UV meters so that testers can be sure that cracks will be visible.
Rocket Lab
When rockets are launched into space, they are subject to a lot of radiation. Engineers need to know how rocket surfaces will interact with radiation to be able to design and control components. MSL can make reflectance measurements to inform their modelling.
Airport
The brightness of displays in aircraft cockpits needs to be at the right level for safe operation. MSL calibrates luminance meters so that displays can be monitored and safety can be assured.
The integrity of aircraft parts, such as propeller blades, are monitored using non-destructive testing. Surfaces are covered with fluorescent dye, which shows up microcracks and defects under ultraviolet (UV) lighting. MSL provides calibration of UV meters so that testers can be sure that cracks will be visible.
The integrity of aircraft parts, such as propeller blades, are monitored using non-destructive testing. Surfaces are covered with fluorescent dye, which shows up microcracks and defects under ultraviolet (UV) lighting. MSL provides calibration of UV meters so that testers can be sure that cracks will be visible.
Observatory
Capturing the light from the most distant galaxies requires specialist telescopes built with incredibly precise optics. It is important that the lenses used in these telescopes have high transmittance to create good images. MSL measures the transmittance of light at specific wavelengths through the final coated lenses.
Farm
Meat inspectors need to be able to quickly and easily identify spoiled products to prevent them from being sold to New Zealanders. This requires adequate lighting, which can be assured using calibrated light meters traceable to MSL.
Factory
Germicidal lamps are used in food production to ensure packaging and containers, such as food cans, are sterilised prior to filling. MSL provides calibration of ultraviolet (UV) meters to measure the dose of UV radiation each container is exposed to.
High-powered and pulsed lighting is used in many devices for quality checking or for product development. These devices can harm operators’ skin or eyes, so MSL carries out checks of photobiological safety to inform best practice in their use.
High-powered and pulsed lighting is used in many devices for quality checking or for product development. These devices can harm operators’ skin or eyes, so MSL carries out checks of photobiological safety to inform best practice in their use.
Museum
Displays at museums such as Te Papa need to get the lighting just right: enough light so that visitors can see items clearly, but not so much that valuable artefacts are exposed to radiation damage. MSL assists with measurements of both the level of lighting and the identification of harmful blue or ultraviolet components in lighting.
Ship
In an emergency, lighting is designed to turn on to guide people to the emergency exits on ships. MSL does testing of the photoluminescence of emergency lighting to ensure that in the event of an emergency the lights turn on and people can follow them to get to the emergency exit safely.
Bank
Every time transactions are made using internet banking, they are encrypted so that people cannot steal information. In the future, quantum systems will be used for this. MSL is preparing for this future by investigating the detection of single photons.
Cinema
When computer generated creatures and special effects are added into films, the producers want them to look realistic. Doing this requires knowledge of how the surfaces behave in different lighting conditions. MSL makes measurements of reflectance for different surfaces, which are used to make these effects look more realistic.
Orchard
To check that kiwifruit are ready to be harvested, kiwifruit orchards can cut open a kiwifruit and measure the colour of its flesh. Instruments that measure colour are routinely checked for accuracy using coloured tiles. The colours of the tiles are calibrated by MSL to ensure that good decisions are made, the kiwifruit is harvested at the right time, and fruit arrives on shelves in the best possible condition.
Retail Shops
Visual attributes, such as colour, gloss, texture, or sparkle, combine to give a surface its unique appearance. In products like cosmetics or automotive paint, appearance can have a significant impact on consumer choice. MSL is working with international colleagues to develop a common language for the measurement of light scattering. These tools will provide industry with a more reliable way to define and control the properties of a surface.
Airport
The aviation industry is heavily regulated to ensure the safety of air travel. MSL calibrates temperature and humidity devices for Air New Zealand’s calibration laboratories. These devices are used to test the performance of a wide range of sensors inside aeroplanes as well as to monitor and control the heat-treatment of some aircraft parts.
Hospital
Clinical thermometers are important medical diagnostic tools. MSL calibrates reference equipment used by hospitals to calibrate their clinical thermometers. MSL also provides advice on how to improve the design and performance of consumables in the health sector, such as ventilators.
Supermarket
To prevent bacterial contamination, health and safety regulations require tight control of the temperatures at which certain foods can be stored. MSL provides advice to supermarkets on how to control and measure temperature and humidity in large fridges and freezers and on how these control measures can be optimised.
Shipping Containers
Whether transported by road, air, or sea, the temperature and humidity in certain shipments, such as perishable foodstuffs, need to be carefully controlled to deliver good quality on arrival. MSL calibrates data-loggers which are shipped with the products to guarantee that the requirements are met.
Office Buildings
To ensure the health and wellbeing of employees in workplaces, temperature and humidity levels should be kept within a comfortable range. MSL supports air conditioning calibration services by providing traceability to national measurement standards.
Crown Research Institute
MSL engages in research collaborations with Crown Research Institutes and provides advice on best-practice in temperature and humidity measurements.
Second-tier calibration laboratories
Second-tier calibration laboratories carry out tens of thousands of temperature and humidity calibrations each year, mainly for industry. MSL supports these laboratories by calibrating their reference equipment, by providing advice and training on measurement techniques, and by assessing the technical competence of laboratory staff.
Factory
Many factories require tight control over the temperature and humidity at which manufacturing processes occur. MSL provides calibrations and advice on best measurement practice to support these industries and offers solutions to difficult measurement problems.
Vineyard
MSL provides advice on remote calibration of temperature and dew-point sensors. This helps, for example, to detect the onset of frost, so that vineyard owners can take action to avoid damage to their grapes.
Museum
National heritage items, at museums such as Te Papa, need to be kept within well-defined temperature and humidity ranges to preserve and extend the life of precious artefacts. MSL provides advice on how these conditions can be met.
National Library
Important historical documents, such as the Treaty of Waitangi, should be kept within well-defined temperature and humidity ranges to protect and preserve them. MSL provides advice on how these conditions can be met.
Petrol Station
MSL provides temperature measurement services and advice to New Zealand’s only oil refinery, helping them to optimise the process of refining petrol before delivery to petrol stations around the country.
Data Warehouse
Data warehouses play the roles of cloudy storage, data transfer as well as sharing and encryption. One elementary requirement is the high reliability of uninterrupted power supply to maintain all hardware modules in working order at all time. It makes the dual power sources and UPS essential infrastructure. Electrical standards guarantee those accuracies and compatibilities.
Factory
Manufactured products require testing to ensure they provide what the customer expects and as well are safe to use. Many products will require electrical testing to ensure that they meet both these requirements. A particularly important example is the manufacture of high voltage cable used to distribute electricity around New Zealand. The manufacturer in this case makes a range of precision electrical measurements to ensure their product will operate reliably for many years.
Hospital
Many medical treatments involve precise doses of ionising radiation which are monitored by radiation dosimeters that measure the radiation dose as a tiny electrical current. MSL is able to calibrate the current-measuring capability of these dosimeters to ensure patients receive precisely the correct amount of radiation prescribed.
Metservice weather service
MetService relies on a large array of temperature measurements from monitoring sites distributed throughout New Zealand. These measurements are input to weather models that provide daily weather forecasts. The accuracy of the forecasts are extremely sensitive to the accuracy of the raw measurements. Like most industrial temperature measurements, the ‘thermometers’ used are actually temperature-dependent resistors whose resistance can be converted to a temperature. MSL provides calibration traceability for the resistance standards that MetService can then use to calibrate their thermometers.
2nd tier lab
On a pyramid, MSL is on the top tier and maintains New Zealand’s measurement standards to the highest level of accuracy. MSL has many electrical standards including voltage, resistance and electrical power. Under MSL on the pyramid are the 2nd tier calibration laboratories, who send their measurement standards to MSL for calibration. The next tier is industry users who get their standards calibrated by 2nd tier calibration laboratories, and who use standards for testing instruments where the values are relied upon by the end user for a decision, for example energy meters and voltage meters.
Airport
The aviation industry is heavily regulated to ensure safe air travel. Many instruments that ensure the successful take-off and landing of each flight are calibrated by 2nd tier calibration laboratories with equipment traceable to NZ’s electrical measurement standards.
Renewable energy
Electricity is delivered ideally with a single frequency oscillation of voltage and current waves at 50 Hz. New renewable sources provide electricity oscillating mostly at 50 Hz but with some higher frequencies. These higher frequencies have the potential to both upset the stability of the grid and the accuracy of electricity meters. MSL is building a capability to investigate the effect of the increased use of renewable wind and particularly solar generation on the accuracy of meters used for calculating power bills.
Electric Vehicle charging
Electrical Vehicles are fast becoming popular in NZ therefore the NZ Government is investing in an infrastructure that brings growth and innovation to this sector. Accurately measuring the electrical energy transferred is complicated by the varying voltages and currents during the charging process and the presence of harmonic components.MSL is developing methods for the accurate measurement of such signals that could be applied to meet this need.
Stadium
The fastest time for the 100 m, extra seconds of play in the Rugby World Cup and many other aspects of sporting life all rely on accurate time. Ensuring the sound, lighting and special effects at stadium events are ‘in sync’ is another area where timing is crucial.
Parliament
New Zealand time, including Daylight Saving, is based on legislation of Parliament such as the Time Act (1974) and the Daylight Time Order (2007).
Airport
Communication, Navigation and Surveillance systems are critical to the effective and safe operation of air traffic control, and all of these systems rely on highly synchronized time and well-defined radio frequencies. MSL Time Standard is responsible for keeping New Zealand Time and Frequency standards, and disseminating to end users with low uncertainties.
Police
Police operate speed cameras and radars to enhance public road safety. The functionality and accuracy of these equipment are regularly checked and calibrated by the Police calibration services team, who are fully supported by the MSL Time Standard, by providing technical solutions, and traceable calibrations to their timing and frequency related test equipment.
Cell Tower
Precise time and frequency underpin the operation of cellphone networks and have become ever more important as mobile phone networks have evolved and as multiple mobile operators all attempt to use roughly the same frequencies.
Large Dish
Radio communications, such as microwave links, rely on accurate frequency to avoid interference.
2nd tier Lab
Second-tier calibration laboratories carry out lots of time and frequency calibrations each year, mainly for industry. MSL supports these laboratories by calibrating their reference equipment, by providing advice and training on measurement techniques, and by assessing the technical competence of laboratory staff.
Clock
Not many people realise that ‘the time’ is, in fact, calculated monthly by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). All ‘real-time’ times are approximations, or ‘realisations’, such as those maintained by National Metrology Institutes like MSL which provides ‘New Zealand Time’ - or more precisely UTC(MSL). Historically, time varied all over the world because 'time' came from where things were in the sky. When the sun was overhead it was midday. But as train and telegraph networks spread in the late 1800s they needed time to be the same across large areas to work safely and effectively. This led to time zones where time was fixed relative to some universal time. The first country to use a time zone was New Zealand, in 1868!
Office Building
Accurate timing not only keeps the computers in offices synchronised, but also underpins the operation of data networks and more specialised activities such as automated financial trading.
Satellite
Satellite navigation systems, such as GPS, are one of the more well-known uses of precise timing, but satellites are also used for ‘Time Transfer' which is how clocks around the world in National Metrology Institutes, such as the atomic clocks at MSL, are compared with each other to create an international atomic timescale.
Rocket
Accurate and successful operations between Earth and space, and in space, need to take account of the differences between the various versions of Universal Time, in particular the fact that the rotation of the earth is not perfectly constant over time. This applies not just to launching equipment into space, but communicating with it and controlling it once it is there.
Observatory
For most of history time varied all over the world because 'time' came from the position of things in the sky. If the sun was directly overhead it was midday. Originally, 'universal time' came from the earth spinning, and so observatories were central to time-keeping. But since 1967 'the second' has been based on properties of atoms and from this ‘atomic’ time comes Coordinated Universal Time, or in French Temps Universel Coordonné. As a compromise it’s called UTC. In fact atomic time is so regular that 'leap seconds' are needed to keep UTC close to solar time and observatories, particularly those which inform the IERS, are used to keep track of the difference!