About PlayBuoy
Your guide to the warmest places to swim, play, and relax by the water.
What is PlayBuoy?
If you haven’t guessed it by now…
Yes — PlayBuoy is a cheeky wordplay on PlayBoy. But instead of luxury mansions and silk robes, we’re all about sunshine, water, and outdoor fun — and don’t worry, we’re keeping the swimsuits on.
The name blends our favorite thing to do by the beach or lake — “Play” — with a clever nod to the floating tech that makes it all work: the buoy.
A buoy is a floating device anchored in water, often used to collect data or mark safe zones. Ours are smart little helpers that measure water temperature, waves, and more.
So really, it’s a name that’s playful, practical, and perfectly suited for what we do.
PlayBuoy is a network of floating smart buoys that measure and report real-time water temperatures at popular lakes, beaches, and swim spots near you. Each buoy is equipped with sensors, solar panels, and mobile connectivity — designed and built locally in Norway.
We provide:
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✅ Real-time water temperature data
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✅ A live Top 10 list of warmest swim spots
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✅ An interactive map to explore nearby buoys
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✅ Wave and tide insights at selected locations
How It Works
Each buoy runs on:
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⚙️ An ESP32 microcontroller
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🔋 A solar-charged battery
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🌡️ Water temperature sensors
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📍 GPS for location
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🌊 Wave and tide sensors
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📡 Mobile data (LTE/NB-IoT) for transmission
The data is securely sent to our Raspberry Pi-based backend, and then published live to this site — updated every hour or more depending on battery level and sunlight.
Why We Built It
Built for beach lovers, by beach lovers
We love warm water, spontaneous swims, and helping others discover the best local places to enjoy the outdoors. PlayBuoy started as a passion project to combine solar-powered tech with nature — and evolved into a fun and useful tool for locals and travelers alike.
Whether you're diving in, taking the kids to the beach, or planning a weekend trip — we want to help you find the best place to go.
We're always looking to expand the PlayBuoy network. If you:
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Know a lake or beach that should be monitored
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Want to collaborate on tech, design or data
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Represent a municipality or organization interested in partnering
📬 Reach out to us: playbuoy-sensor@proton.me
We’d love to hear from you.