July 2026: Water Temperature Data Cleaned in 1,600 Listings
In July 2026 we standardized the water temperature field in about 1,600 pool listings, with over 1,000 done and 500 to go. The Pool of the Month is Joali Being in the Maldives.
Our July 2026 pool listings update is dominated by one project: standardizing the water temperature field in about 1,600 pool listings. We also added 27 listings and deleted 21.
Water temperature cleanup
We decided to standardize the format of the water temperature field in the database. Over the years we have added explanatory text to that field for pools whose temperature is raised and lowered on certain days of the week, varies by season and so on. Because we are building a new site, we want a short, all-numeric temperature to show on each facility's map view and, later, to let you filter listings by temperature.
With help from our programmer, we isolated about 1,600 entries whose temperature field needed to be reduced to a single value or a range, with no further explanation. Where wording needs to stay in a listing, we are moving it to the Facility Notes section.
The report also turned up a significant number of typos and some mistaken conversions between Fahrenheit and Celsius. Nearly 1,600 lines of data needed changes before any new version of the site could be put in place.
How these checks differ from a full review
When we review a listing, we normally try to verify all the significant information, such as the name, address, phone number and price, and we check every link. We also update the "Date last reviewed" at the top of the listing, so you know how confident we are in the data.
With nearly 1,600 entries, we made only the changes the temperature field needed. We did no other checks and did not change the date last reviewed.
These limited checks took most of our working time in July. We have been through over 1,000 of the entries and have more than 500 to go.
Listing reviews
We may have looked at a small number of other listings, but we have not finished reviewing the listings in Houston, Texas, where we left off at the end of June. We will return to Houston as soon as the temperature review is finished.
Pool of the Month
The temperature cleanup left little time for other routine tasks, but one listing caught our attention: Joali Being in the Raa Atoll, Maldives. It offers guests the chance to jump into the ocean from their own bedroom, and a choice between 25-meter and 30-meter pools.
