[Ovmsdev] Sharing Data Publicly - Public Charges

Mark Webb-Johnson mark at webb-johnson.net
Thu Dec 12 09:17:34 HKT 2013


Kevin,

To be 100% clear, I have no intention of making this a competitor to OCM or in any way a database of public charging locations. What I am trying to do is publish a real-time stream of public charging events. Public charges starting, finishing and other ancillary information. Apps like your "Charge Map" and Recargo have an 'add a comment' feature where you can add comments related to charging experiences at particular locations, and what I am looking to do is provide an automated facility to feedback such comments. The stream could also be used to verify and improve the quality of existing public charge station databases.

I suspect that the majority of charging station comments provided are 'negative' (I can't charge because it is broken) and very few 'positive' (charge successful, without issue) - just because of human nature that we like to complain more than praise. But, to me, the failure events are useless without knowing the corresponding success events. Being told that 3 cars failed to charge at a particular location this year sounds bad, but if put in the context of 1,000 cars successfully charging the interpretation is different.

An automated system feeding back both event types can be used to improve the quality of the public charging databases, not the quantity.

Think of it like OVMS providing thumbs up and down indicators for each public charging session.

Thanks for your links on database licensing - I'll have a look at the options. I really want something the database equivalent of BSD: here is the data - do what you want with it, but don't blame me. Again, to be clear, there is no commercial motive in this. I want the data to be open and free in every way. I already have a day job, and OVMS is happy to survive under the sponsorship model.

It would make sense to develop this in partnership with OCM, and for OCM to have use of the data. I really see OCM as a clearing house for public charge station data, and am willing to do whatever I can to contribute to that. I am working on a provisional specification for the event data (both PUSH and PULL versions), and will let you guys have a copy as soon as I've got something workable. I am trying to keep in mind the different use case requirements (in particular, researchers have different requirements than charge station database providers), balancing the privacy aspects.

Regards, Mark.

On 12 Dec, 2013, at 1:51 am, Kevin Sharpe ZCW <kevin.sharpe at zerocarbonworld.org> wrote:

> Hi Mark,
> 
> My recommendation for Charge Data licensing is to use both the Open Database License (ODbL) and the Database Contents License (DbCL);
> 
> http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/odbl/
> 
> http://opendatacommons.org/licenses/dbcl/
> 
> IMO these provide licenses that’s are compatible with your goals while also supporting large mapping projects like Open Street Map. Under no circumstances should a generic open source license be used because it will prevent the data from being used in the future.
> 
> You also need to be very conscious of potential copyright and licensing issues with third party content like photos. Personally, I would suggest separating out the core charging point info like location and connectors from ‘extras’ like photos. Without doubt one of the biggest reasons OCM has not been adopted by OEM’s is the ‘messy’ licensing/copyright together with poor underlying data accuracy. If you really want this to be widely used then make sure the fundamental data is accurate and truly open (databases and the data they contain are NOT the same as other data sources).
> 
> Open Charge Map is currently considering a migration to ODbL and IMO it would be beneficial if OCM and OVMS could find a way of sharing effort and data… our goals are the same and today OCM has more than 24,000 charge points listed and the data is used by 15 different apps/maps
> 
> One thing that’s critical from day one is an agreed list of charge point connector descriptions… I’ll see what I can find to help kick start this… again this is not simple because we have different terms to describe the same connector… for example, “J1772” in the US is “Type 1” in Europe.
> 
> You probably should also be aware of the OCPP and opi2020 developments that are being mandated by some government projects;
> 
> http://www.ocppforum.net/node/5
> 
> http://www.opi2020.com/page.asp?DH=17
> 
> All the best,
> 		Kevin Sharpe | Founder & Patron
> Tel: +44 122 566 7544 ext: 800 | Skype: zerocarbonworld
> kevin.sharpe at zerocarbonworld.org | www.zerocarbonworld.org | twitter.com/zerocarbonworld
> 
> Zero Carbon World is a UK Registered Charity #1141347
> From: Mark Webb-Johnson <mark at webb-johnson.net>
> Reply-To: OVMS Developers <ovmsdev at lists.teslaclub.hk>
> Date: Wednesday, 11 December 2013 13:32
> To: OVMS Developers <ovmsdev at lists.teslaclub.hk>
> Subject: [Ovmsdev] Sharing Data Publicly - Public Charges
> 
> 
> I’ve always been interested in the possible uses of OVMS for the greater good of the EV community, and to assist with the widespread adoption of Electric Vehicles. The anonymised Tesla Roadster charging records we provided to Tom Saxton for his work on a Charge Time Predictor for these cars showed how beautifully such information sharing can work.
> 
> One big target for me has always been the sharing of information on public charge stations. Most of these systems are walled gardens at the moment (either for the charge station network or for the vehicle manufacturers), and there seems to be very little sharing going on. Chargepoint know when you start to charge, when you finish, the result (completed successfully or interrupted), volts, amps, etc - but not SOC% or which vehicle was actually being charged (just the owner). Leaf Carwings presumably knows where you charged, and the result, per vehicle, but has no way of sharing that with charging station networks. You can use Recargo to find a charging station, but have to manually go in and enter the charge result (if you want to feed-back positive/negative reviews to Recargo for the benefit of other users). The end result is a wallet full of charging network membership cards, RFID tags, and a cellphone full of Apps for all the different networks. Over time this will resolve itself, but for the moment it is a mess.
> 
> Open Charge Map goes a long way towards opening the charging station information, but the information seems to be flowing out of OCM to others, but not necessarily the other way.
> 
> Well, it turns out that for OVMS at least, we have a possible solution. A solution that can be both charging network and vehicle agnostic (at least for the vehicles supported). The rest of this eMail outlines my ideas for how this could be implemented. Think of it as an old-fashioned Request For Comments, and let me have your feedback.
> 
> Thanks, Mark.
> 
> Sharing Public Charge Data
> 
> The Problem
> 
> To allow OVMS users to automatically and simply share their usage of public charging stations. The information shared would be openly available to charging networks, charge station databases, apps, researchers, and other interested parties.
> 
> Pre-Requisites
> 
> Participating users would be required to have OVMS installed in their vehicle, and for the vehicle to be supported in as much as it can provide to the server indication of location, charge start, and charge completion events. Users would also require a cellphone app for authorisation and control of the sharing of their data.
> 
> Licensing
> 
> The data produced should be licensed in some ‘open’ way. Do with it as you will. Perhaps creative commons, or something similar.
> 
> Vehicle Firmware Changes
> 
> Specific messages for “Charge Start” and “Charge Completed” should be created and sent to the server at the appropriate times. Control of this can be in the common vehicle.{h,c} code, and is not hard to implement. Only the ‘last’ charge is required, and the normal historical data interface can be used.
> 
> App Changes
> 
> The Apps (Android and iOS) would require a mechanism for the user to opt-in to the scheme, and for that opt-in to be either anonymous or with a user-defined nickname. The opt-in is per-vehicle and the default is for all vehicles to be opted out. When the App connects to the server, it will inform the server as to the opt-in status.
> 
> The Apps will occasionally receive push notification messages from the server, at the start of a charge. Those messages will lead to a dialog for the user to confirm what he would like to do with the current charge:
>   a) Always shared charging information for this location
>   b) Share just this once charging information for this location
>   c) Do not share this one charging session for this location.
>   d) Never share charging information for this location
> 
> If the choice is made to share, additional information can be provided (such as the charging post number, comments, etc). It would be nice to include information from Open Charge Map at this point (such as the name of the charging station, and validation of the charging point number), but we will need to verify licensing and other considerations (such as whether this would be acceptable / desirable to Open Charge Map).
> 
> The Apps will occasionally receive push notification messages from the server, when charges are aborted. Those messages will lead to a dialog for the user to confirm the reason for the abort:
>   a) Charge was successful, but interrupted by the user
>   b) Charge was unsuccessful, due to a problem with the charging station
>   c) Charge was unsuccessful, but not a problem of the charging station.
> 
> The user’s response must be returned to the server appropriately.
> 
> The Apps, when connected to the server, can also receive a list of charging records that have not yet been responded to. A dialog should be presented to the user for each such location.
> 
> Server Changes
> 
> The servers will maintain opt-in status for each vehicle in the system, and if opted-in, the nickname / anonymous handle for the vehicle.
> 
> The servers will maintain a historical list of charging locations for each vehicle in the system. Each location record would have:
>   a) Latitude, Longitude (geofenced).
>   b) Sharing flag (pending user, just this once, always, not this once, or never).
>   c) Charging information (date/time charge started, etc).
>   d) Date and result of last charge here.
> 
> When the server receives a ‘charge started’ message from the vehicle, it would look up the geofenced location in the database, for the vehicle, and use the sharing flag to determine what to do.
> 
> If there is no matching record found, a new record would be created (sharing flag: pending user).
> 
> When the server receives a ‘charge completed’ message from the vehicle, it would look up the geofenced location in the database, for the vehicle, and use the sharing flag to determine what to do.
> 
> If the sharing flag indicates that the charging information should be shared, the server would publish the charging session information appropriately.
> 
> If the server receives an indication from the car that a charge has been aborted, it will have to PUSH notify the user - but also ask the user for confirmation of the reason why the charge was interrupted.
> 
> When the server receives a user decision message from an App (either before or after charge completion), it should update the charging location record appropriately. This may also result in the publishing of the charging session information.
> 
> The server will maintain a database of partners, and their API access keys. This database should allow for PUSH messages (via HTTP) to the partner. If PUSH is enabled, every time a charging session is updated (either started or completed), the server will connect to each partner (in randomised order) and send them the information for recent charges. The server will also provide an API to allow partners to PULL messages past a certain date/time stamp (to allow for periodic synchronisation).
> 
> Partners
> 
> Partners would just have to subscribe to the system (signing up with a user account and being given an API key). They would have to agree to the license terms, but other than that there would be no restrictions to partnership.
> 
> Partners can choose to either retrieve updates via PUSH (they provide a server URL to receive the data), PULL (they periodically poll the OVMS server for updated data), or a combination of both.
> 
> Overview (start to finish)
> 
> An OVMS user opts in to the service. He uses the nickname ‘Jimbo’.
> 
> He arrives at a public charging station and plugs in. The OVMS module in his car detects the charge has started and informs the server. The server looks up the vehicle charging locations and finds that the vehicle has never charged here before, so sends a PUSH notification to the user’s Apps to ask him about this charge.
> 
> Within seconds of the charge starting, the user’s cellphone beeps and he sees an OVMS notification. He clicks on it and is taken a dialog asking him about the charge he has just started. This is a public charge station, so he just clicks “Always share charging information for this location” and turns off his phone. The App sends a notification to the server, and the server updates its records to never both the user about this location again. The server also updates all partners (via PUSH notification) that a charge has started at this location.
> 
> Partners can use this information to record statistics on charge station usage, or even as a rudimentary indication of if the charging station is in use (at least by an OVMS user).
> 
> After a few hours of charging, a breaker trips and the charge is interrupted. The OVMS module in his car detected the abort and informs the server. The server looks up the vehicle charging location, and if sharing is enabled for this location sends a PUSH notification to the user’s Apps asking him about the cause of this interruption?
> 
> The user returns to his car and finds the problem. He responds to the dialog in his OVMS App to let the system know that the charge was interrupted by a problem of the charging station. The server receives the response, updates its records, and updates all partners (via PUSH notification) that a charge has been interrupted at this location.
> 
> Partners can use this information to record statistics on charge station failure rates, as well as updating that the charge station is no longer in use.
> 
> Partners not using PUSH notifications can retrieve all this information at a later date by a simple HTTP PULL request.
> 
> Further work
> 
> There are many extensions possible to this system, but I would first of all like to concentrate on getting a basic implementation designed and implemented, and some partnerships in place.
> 
> For example:
> 
> * Pictures of new charging locations.
> * Information for new charging locations.
> * Charging station information.
> * Showing current usage of a particular station in the Apps.
> * and so much more
> 
> Privacy Issues
> 
> The biggest privacy issue is that the server would have to record the locations of charging stations that the user has requested not be shared. For example, someone’s home. We could avoid this by not recording these, but that would not be optimal as the system would then have to ask the user whether he wanted to share, each and every time they charged at that location (rather than just once, the first time). As this information is not actually shared, it is not a true privacy issue - but should the security of the server be compromised, that data could be exposed.
> 
> Perhaps a one-way hash could be used for storing locations, but we would have to find one that also worked with geofenced lookups.
> 
> Conclusions
> 
> The above is not hard. In particular, the vehicle firmware changes are trivial (it could even be done without any vehicle firmware changes, by looking at the S and D messages coming back from the cars). The server code is not difficult at all. The largest amount of work would be in the Apps (in particular, handling the PUSH notifications and user dialogs).
> 
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