Multiple optical sensors for chemical species are sensitive, non-toxic and non-invasive and enable spatially and temporally resolved multianalyte detection. Recent advances are highlighted with a focus on fluorescence-based methods and the biologically and clinically important analytes oxygen, pH, carbon dioxide and temperature. Indicator chemistries such as permeation-selective microbeads and nanoparticles allow the production of microscopically homogeneous sensor layers. The use of combinations of spectral discrimations along with time-resolved monitoring schemes based on luminescence lifetime or intensity-lifetime ratios enables all-optical real-time multianalyte determination.