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EV Charger Maps

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#43
#44
vfx said:
This format is terrible. What will happen when it gets like this?
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I cannot see how any of the existing database sites will survive. The sheer volume of work will put the data management beyond their reach and force users to consult ever more sites looking for charge points. IMO only a very active community effort, or a number of large commercial organisations can undertake this task.

I truly believe that an open charge point database is the best way forward because it will allow the website developers to focus on value added features like route planning, hotel booking, charger booking, etc.... something they can make some decent money on.
 
#46
Along with keeping track of the location of all the charging spots, there is a need to eventually keep realtime shared data as to which ones are in use. The Nissan Leaf tour had a talking point about how the car nav could show you the nearest _available_ charging location. How will it know if it is in use? I heard Coulomb has a way to centrally query which of theirs are in use, but I bet there are lots of other types of J1772 charging stations that don't upload realtime usage data to a centralized location... (yet)
 
#47
As someone recently said, If each maker is going to do their own charger map software it would a pain to have to go though all those apps when low. But if Kevin's scheme (or one like it) tells a user where the nearest one is and who is the maker/installer of that unit is, then, when we find a nearby charger when could go to that maker's site to see if it's available.
 
#48
TEG said:
Along with keeping track of the location of all the charging spots, there is a need to eventually keep realtime shared data as to which ones are in use.
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I completely agree.... however, the data standards being used by today's charger manufacturers are incompatible and if their responses to OpenChargeMap are anything to go by then we have little hope of collaboration between vendors.

One feature we intend to support is to have the mobile apps feedback the status of the charger to the OpenChargeMap database. This would give us a pretty good idea of what the status of the charger was when last used. I appreciate this is not as good as a 'smart' system but I think it will be very useful feature.
 
#49
Right. Think we already mentioned Coulomb's "smart" charging stations have a GPRS data connection and aGPS so they know the status and location of all their units. Can even detect a fault which they can try to fix remotely of flag for service.
http://www.mychargepoint.net/find-stations.php
Would be nice if they also shared this data (via a translator if necessary) to an open database. You'd think it would be to their advantage to do so if they want people to find their chargers.

Mobile apps via cell phone or within the cars themselves is a nice way to close the real time info gap on "dumb" charging stations.

I think, though, that OpenChargeMap database needs to be as forwardlooking/future proof as possible. So not just real time status, but also a reservation capability, perhaps even V2G info. I think it's ok if some of those fields go unused for the near term.
 
#50
doug said:
Mobile apps via cell phone or within the cars themselves is a nice way to close the real time info gap on "dumb" charging stations.
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I think so... we are giving away 1,000 'dumb' charge points and it will be nice to have some idea of how well they are working :eek:

doug said:
I think, though, that OpenChargeMap database needs to be as forwardlooking/future proof as possible. So not just real time status, but also a reservation capability, perhaps even V2G info. I think it's ok if some of those fields go unused for the near term.
Click to expand...
I agree that the database design is critical and it must allow for future growth and change.

However, I would rather the database focuses on delivering the key charge site data and we leave the third party vendors to develop features like reservation capability, etc. I'm not saying that a open solution for these features would not be interesting, and I'm sure someone will do that at some point, but I think we need to remain focused and deliver a fantastic database for everyone to use.
 
#51
The Nissan drive event also talked of giving over the charge spot to those most in need.
For instance, you come in nearly empty, and the other car already at the charge spot is 80% full and software says that it should be good enough to get them to any typical destination in their usual radius. So the charger disconnects them and tells the nearly empty car that they can take the charge spot. (Works if there is an empty space close enough to the charge cord.) Probably texts the owner of the first vehicle as the nearly empty one starts to get close and says "please move your vehicle since someone else needs the spot now."

It is easy to imagine all sorts of scenarios like that if all the data is available, including SOC of the vehicle, and how to contact the owner of the vehicle (assuming they permit being contacted for such things.)

It is hard to know just how sophisticated this will be next year, and the year after that. Nissan was talking about possibly far off scenarios as if they will be ready right away.

Another point from the Nissan test drive event was to emphasize that the GPS maps will auto update themselves wirelessly without having to get a new DVD from the dealer including to add new charge locations. That point alone seems to convince people that this is a good technology without going into some of the more complicated possibilities.
 
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#52
Kevin, et al,

Hi guys. New Leaf owner who has snuck on to your board via a google search.

I wrote the EVChargerFinder app for iPhone. I also have been working with EVChargerMaps.com in the US as well as http://www.ev-network.org.uk site owners to pull in data.

As was stated here, all of these efforts (above as well as Recargo, Chargepoint, etc) use proprietary database storage. This makes having a global source of data difficult. Also as Kevin has found, getting permission to use someone else's data is difficult. No one wants to unify the formats or may have commercial interests such as Chargepoint. I personally would like to unify on a open format so apps and websites could compete on ease of use and features. But this has been hard to get going. Also, no one particularly small non-profit operations like myself and EVChargerMaps.com is sure how to scale up once these start going crazy.

For my part, rather then add new data I am sourcing myself direct into any of the proprietary databases, I have been adding new J1772 chargers onto a public Google doc as I am informed they go live. I would also be glad to give anyone access to this doc and collaborate on format and such. I am also open to working with the http://openchargemap.sourceforge.net project to get the data.

I have a lot of experience on iPhone mobile as well as Google integration of websites. I also know what kind of setup you would need to support as I have been running the mobile app for almost 2 years now. I would love to have others help maintain the data. Particularly with UK data, it is hard for me to verify or get updates other than from users directly.

This is the google doc:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AtpjYvmqsCJcdFVvVEZQZVh4bEVwbG90Y0JobE8ySlE&hl=en

It is currently specific to J1772 charge point as those are the new type we do not have in our database yet. However, my internal database supports other plug types such as UK 13a and 16a.

Anyone who would like to contact me can do so here: http://ev-nation.org/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=1&Itemid=53
 
#54
Jeff Lander said:
As was stated here, all of these efforts (above as well as Recargo, Chargepoint, etc) use proprietary database storage. This makes having a global source of data difficult. Also as Kevin has found, getting permission to use someone else's data is difficult. No one wants to unify the formats or may have commercial interests such as Chargepoint. I personally would like to unify on a open format so apps and websites could compete on ease of use and features. But this has been hard to get going. Also, no one particularly small non-profit operations like myself and EVChargerMaps.com is sure how to scale up once these start going crazy.
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Many thanks for the update Jeff.

You are correct that creating an open database has been a challenge with issues around licensing, scalability, and co-ordinating a group of world-wide volunteers. We are actually making good progress on the database fundamentals and the ZCW charity now has two full time staff members to help with the project management (both are seconded from my UK company at no cost to the charity).

My vision is for an open, global, database of charge point locations and capabilities. I hope the database will be used by third party developers to create amazing websites and apps. I have no problem with the data being used commercially, and all we ask is for attribution in return. My goal has always been to address the madness of 50+ proprietary sources for the same information.

I will reach out to you so that we can work together. I thank you for your vision of the greater good.
 
#55
thanks both Kevin and Jeff for all your hard work. for a consumer it is just impossible to try to understand the "where" one can charge one's EV outside of the home........ except for the US and UK or maybe Germany and France as well but only if one speaks the local language as far as I can find anyway. so having a truly global list on a simple instrument like a website or a phone app would be tremendous help to the consumer

thanks again for the hard work

/fb
 
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#57
Kevin Sharpe said:
Many thanks for the update Jeff.

You are correct that creating an open database has been a challenge with issues around licensing, scalability, and co-ordinating a group of world-wide volunteers. We are actually making good progress on the database fundamentals and the ZCW charity now has two full time staff members to help with the project management (both are seconded from my UK company at no cost to the charity).

My vision is for an open, global, database of charge point locations and capabilities. I hope the database will be used by third party developers to create amazing websites and apps. I have no problem with the data being used commercially, and all we ask is for attribution in return. My goal has always been to address the madness of 50+ proprietary sources for the same information.

I will reach out to you so that we can work together. I thank you for your vision of the greater good.
Click to expand...
Great initiative!

I own a hosting company in the Netherlands so I can provide hosting if needed. Free of charge :)

There are some dutch websites too, but it isn't combined at all, they all have their own database.

There is one website though which provides a KML (Google Earth) file: http://www.oplaadpalen.nl/kml.php

But to get this succesfull the API has to be fast in providing data to other websites and applications.
 
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