1. A non-transitory, tangible, and computer-readable medium comprising instructions for exchanging time-variant data, that is indicative of an environmental condition and generated by a sensor, using a message format, the instructions executable by one or more processors to configure an electronic device to: encode the time-variant data, using the message format, the message format comprising: one or more resources fields that each identifies a resource to be imported into the time-variant data; one or more records that represent data samples comprising the time-variant data being exchanged in the message; a descriptor field corresponding to at least one respective record of the one or more records and containing metadata describing the time-variant data contained within the at least one record; and a description field having a human-readable string to describe from where the data samples are derived.