VisibleTesla

[napabill]

Folks, there is a limitation in the Trips tab that I forgot to mention in the release notes or documentation. At the moment, the only trips that will show up are those that were present when the app launched. So if you launched that app on Dec 3 at 10:00AM, it would have ingested all previous data and made those available as trips. If you take a drive at 11:00 am to 11:15 AM, that trip will not be visible until the next time you launch the app.

Right now the way the Trips tab works is that it processes all of the stored data at launch time and doesn't add to it while the app is running. The new data gets written to disk for next time, but it is ignored by the Trips tab. I will improve this next time around. Sorry for any confusion this caused.

This is confusing to me (easily done!). The graphs tab only collects data while the app is open. But the Trips data is still collected when the app is closed?

 

[hans]

This is confusing to me (easily done!). The graphs tab only collects data while the app is open. But the Trips data is still collected when the app is closed?

I think he is saying that the Trips tab will only display the trips that were completed before you started Visible Tesla. It will not show trips that you drove after VT was started. If you want to see those most recent trips you need to stop VT and start it again.

 

[MichaelS]

Ah, that is why I could not see today's trip to work. So I need to briefly close it and then reopen and I should be able to see this mornings trip.

 

[dsmith2189]

Hi znino,

I don't blame your friends for being concerned. I ran Symantec Research Labs for a number of years so I have first hand knowledge of the volume and variety of attack vectors that are in the wild today. Let me tell you a little about the app that you can pass along to your friends.

The app uses https to connect to Tesla's servers which means that all communication are encrypted. It does not store or communicate the user's password. It *does* store a cookie file on the user's disk. If this cookie file falls into the hands of an attacker, they could access your vehicle. An attacker would have to have access to your computer to make this possible. The application shares no information with me or anyone else other than Tesla. I'd actually love to collect some aggregate statistics (not user identifiable) but I've refrained from doing so because I don't want to create even a perception that users are being spied upon. I don't even know how many people have tried VT.

Other than communicating with Tesla, the app does download up to 3 files from a different source - dropbox. The first file is a list of the releases. The app uses this to determine whether a newer release is available. If a new release is available, the user can click a link to see the most recent release notes (they are also on dropbox). Finally, if the user chooses to download the latest release, it will download that from dropbox. No user information is shared in this process.

As @musterion points out, the code is open source and posted on github. I welcome anyone to look at it and let me know of any security vulnerabilities that might be present. I understand that not everyone has the time, interest, or inclination to do that, but it is an option for some.

Thanks for your interest in VisibleTesla. I'm not a developer for a living anymore and this project has been a really fun way to keep at least some of those old skills going.

as a side note on data security, I just attended a lecture on "Defense Against Vulnerabilities In Public Data" even though I almost fell asleep.. I thought it was interesting. for more info see: "the Netflix Prize" Of course the speaker went a bit deeper based on his Doctoral thesis on the subject. (that may be why I almost fell asleep)

 

[jpasqua]

I think he is saying that the Trips tab will only display the trips that were completed before you started Visible Tesla. It will not show trips that you drove after VT was started. If you want to see those most recent trips you need to stop VT and start it again.

Exactly.

--- Updated ---

I've written the code for this but I haven't had a chance to test it yet so I didn't release it. In the new version all trips will be displayed except for any trip that is currently in progress. You can monitor the current trip on the Location tab and it will be available in the trips tab once it is "complete". I'm away until early next week so I won't be able to test and debug the new version until after that.

 

[Klaus]

Just tried this. My wife drove the Tesla to the airport to pick up a friend. The track itself looks fine on the webpage, but Google says "Sorry, we have no imagery here" for all the zoom levels that I have tried.

Just curious, for TESLAMS and streaming/visualize I had to get a Google Maps developer key. Could that be the reason?

 

[jpasqua]

Just tried this. My wife drove the Tesla to the airport to pick up a friend. The track itself looks fine on the webpage, but Google says "Sorry, we have no imagery here" for all the zoom levels that I have tried.

Just curious, for TESLAMS and streaming/visualize I had to get a Google Maps developer key. Could that be the reason?

Ugh. I copy and pasted the wrong google maps key into my html for this page. I used a sample value rather than my developer key. I don't know if that's causing your problem, but I will certainly fix it. Thanks for pointing this out.

 

[Klaus]

Ugh. I copy and pasted the wrong google maps key into my html for this page. I used a sample value rather than my developer key. I don't know if that's causing your problem, but I will certainly fix it. Thanks for pointing this out.

Glad to help ;-)

If you want to have "power users" use their own key, maybe it could get read in from a prefs panel advanced option?

 

[jpasqua]

... If you want to have "power users" use their own key, maybe it could get read in from a prefs panel advanced option?

I've added that to the enhancements list on github.

 

[jcaspar]

This program is fantastic but I am not quite sure how the logging works and would like to use it for 5 day a trip to LA in the new year. Should I just leave it running on a laptop at home and check it when I get home? I will have wifi at the hotels but I suspect that won't help me on the road. Can I run this on my phone and turn it on/off at each stop?
Thanks

 

[Berkut]

This program is fantastic but I am not quite sure how the logging works and would like to use it for 5 day a trip to LA in the new year. Should I just leave it running on a laptop at home and check it when I get home? I will have wifi at the hotels but I suspect that won't help me on the road. Can I run this on my phone and turn it on/off at each stop?
Thanks

I just started using this app and I've successfully logged a trip to the tint shop. What I did was to go into the Preferences tab, select Location drop down and check the box labled[Collected Location Data]. I had the app running at home prior to departure. When I returned I then closed down the app and restarted it to make the latest trip data available. Once I did that I found two trips listed after selecting today's date. One was the beginning of my trip down to the shop. And the other when they moved my car from parking lot into the garage to do the work.

The only confusion I've got at the moment is why it is only showing three trip location points ( 0.3mi), on my trip down to the tint shop (8mi away) when I use [Map It!]. I have the sample periods set to their defaults, so it shouldn't be an under-sampling issue.85 KWh Standard | Black | Dual Chargers + HPWC | Tech + Folding Mirrors | Air | Sub Zero
Reserved: 9/15, Confirmed 9/24, Production 11/22, Delivered 11/29 || Xpel Ultimate | 30/30/15% Precision 30 Tint

 

[Bjorn]

Thank you for a great program I have a small bug report. I don't know if this is the right place though. On the HVAC-tab, the two left wheels show 19" while the two right wheels show 21".

 

[jpasqua]

Hello @jcaspar,

The app must be running to collect logging information. Whenever these types of questions arise I always point out that there is a great package described in this thread that might be just what you're looking for: TeslaMS tools for telemetry data visualization.

If you prefer to use VisibleTesla, you need to leave it running on a computer somewhere that has internet access and can stay in touch with your car. You can't run VisibleTesla on your phone. You can run it on a laptop with mobile internet access, but it will only collect data while the laptop is on and the app is running.

I hope that helps,
Joe

- - - Updated - - -

Hi Berkut,

The app normally collects location data every 30 seconds while the car is moving. When the car is stopped, the app collects information every two minutes. If you happen to be on the Location tab, it collects data much more frequently when the car is in motion (this is where the sampling comes into play). If you'd like, I can take a look at your log file and your {VIN}.locns.log fileto see if there is something pointing to a bug.

Joe

- - - Updated - - -

Hi Bjorn,

Thanks for your interest in VT. This is a known problem that in all likelihood I won't be fixing. Tesla does not make the appropriate images available for the backs of all of the different wheel types *and* the wheel images are mixed into the semi-transparent body image. A graphic artist with some excellent skills could probably create everything that's needed, but unfortunately I do not have those skills.

Joe

 

[Bjorn]

Thank you for the quick reply, jpasqua

 

[Berkut]

Missing trip data points.

Hello @jcaspar,

Hi Berkut,

The app normally collects location data every 30 seconds while the car is moving. When the car is stopped, the app collects information every two minutes. If you happen to be on the Location tab, it collects data much more frequently when the car is in motion (this is where the sampling comes into play). If you'd like, I can take a look at your log file and your {VIN}.locns.log file to see if there is something pointing to a bug.

Joe

That would be greatly appreciated. I exported the trip log and see that indeed has only three location points sampled at 30 second intervals. The last location corresponds with the first traffic light I was stopped at. From that point to the destination (~8mi) there are no more data points, until 10:30am when the car was moved from where I dropped it off into the garage. Those data points where at 5 second intervals. I don't remember which tab I had last left it in but both activities where recorded while in the same tab configuration.

85 | Black | Dual Chargers + HPWC | Tech + Folding Mirrors | Air | Sub Zero
Reserved: 9/15, Confirmed 9/24, Production 11/22, Delivered 11/29 || Xpel Ultimate | 30/30/15% Precision 30 Tint

 

[jcaspar]

Is there any harm in leaving it running on my laptop at home for 4-5 days during a long trip? Will it cause too much polling or slow/block the iphone app?

 

[dsmith2189]

Is there any harm in leaving it running on my laptop at home for 4-5 days during a long trip? Will it cause too much polling or slow/block the iphone app?

the only issue I have with leaving VT running (and active) is that my car won't go to sleep because of the polling. for a short trips(4-5 days) this wouldn't be a problem but for longer trips where I want to conserve battery power it is probably best to (sadly:frown shut down VT.

But then again maybe the scheduler in VT can be used to wake the car up and check it's status and then allow it to go back to sleep. I haven't played with this feature yet.

 

[jpasqua]

But then again maybe the scheduler in VT can be used to wake the car up and check it's status and then allow it to go back to sleep. I haven't played with this feature yet.

That's exactly what I do. I use the scheduler to put the app into sleep mode in the evening. When the app goes into sleep mode it stops talking to the car which will allow it to go to sleep. I use another scheduler command to take the app out of sleep mode in the morning. Note that taking the app out of sleep mode won't wake the car up. It just means that when the car does wake up, VT will begin collecting data again.

 

[Berkut]

Trip Data Collection

In my pursuit of knowledge. I collected another set of trip data on Saturday. This time I made sure that the location tab was selected before departure. After I returned I restarted the application to gain access to the new data and used the [Map It] button to view it. This time I saw the whole trip! - Way cool.

I then exported the trip data and looked at it under excel and viewed the sampling period characteristics. At the beginning, sample period was every second, then transitioned to every 5 second for the rest of the trip, until reaching my destination, at which point it transitioned back to one per second. In those one second instances I was driving very slow. I also found that occasionally there would be a 20 to 96 second gaps in the samples at random intervals.

Overall I am pleased with the logging characteristics. Out of curiosity, is what I observed typical? Any idea why the higher than specified sampling rate when driving at slow speeds? Just curious.


85 | Black | Dual Chargers + HPWC | Tech + Folding Mirrors | Air | Sub Zero
Reserved: 9/15, Confirmed 9/24, Production 11/22, Delivered 11/29 || Xpel Ultimate | 30/30/15% Precision 30 Tint

 

[logan]

In my pursuit of knowledge. I collected another set of trip data on Saturday. This time I made sure that the location tab was selected before departure. After I returned I restarted the application to gain access to the new data and used the [Map It] button to view it. This time I saw the whole trip! - Way cool.

I then exported the trip data and looked at it under excel and viewed the sampling period characteristics. At the beginning, sample period was every second, then transitioned to every 5 second for the rest of the trip, until reaching my destination, at which point it transitioned back to one per second. In those one second instances I was driving very slow. I also found that occasionally there would be a 20 to 96 second gaps in the samples at random intervals.

Overall I am pleased with the logging characteristics. Out of curiosity, is what I observed typical? Any idea why the higher than specified sampling rate when driving at slow speeds? Just curious.

Total guess but perhaps higher speeds = likely on freeway = likely not changing direction or route quickly. While going slow = likely on side streets = high chance of changing direction / turning / etc. :smile: