Hello and some questions :)

[johan12345]

Hi! I maintain EVMap, an open source Android app to find charging stations, and just stumbled upon your OCPDB project, which looks really interesting. Maybe it makes sense to collaborate?

Currently EVMap mainly relies on community-maintained data sources such as GoingElectric and Open Charge Map (and in the future, OSM and Nobil) for static charging station information, and matches them with a few additional data sources for realtime status and pricing. At the moment everything is done on the client side, connecting directly to the data sources - there is no backend component yet to aggregate the different sources. Also, being manually maintained by the community, GE and OCM increasingly run into the problem that the data is incomplete or out of date. So something like OCPDB as a backend might be a better solution in the mid-term future, if it would provide similar coverage to the current sources.

A few questions:

• How did you get access to the data sources you already have, for example the Ladenetz OCHP interface? Are these generally available to open source developers? Most sources seem to require some sort of credentials.
• Are you interested in expanding the dataset beyond Germany?
• Do you think there is any chance to get access to open data directly from one of the big roaming platforms such as Hubject? If that were possible, that would of course cover a large number of chargers across Europe with a single API implementation.
• Are you also interested in also trying to aggregate pricing information (something like Chargeprice, but as open data)? EVMap currently uses Chargeprice, but their API is not cheap and the data is also not always up to date.
• Regarding additional data sources to integrate:
  • Do you only consider official, documented APIs that are intended for third-party access (ideally under an open license), or are unofficial, but publicly accessible APIs (for example those used to drive interactive maps on the websites of MSPs/CPOs) also fine?
  • Would you be interested in matching the OCPDB dataset not just to the BNetzA database, but also to data sources like GoingElectric and Open Charge Map? They don't have realtime status, but more detailed information about the charging locations, such as photos, descriptions, user comments, etc., which are useful to drivers. Also, they list some additional chargers that are not connected to any of the roaming platforms.

[the-infinity]

Hi, @johan12345 ,

thank you for your questions / your proposal! I would be very interested in working together, and also very interested in extending OCPDB. I know your project a bit, as I looked at it some time back, and I really like what you do. I always wondered if we can get together the open approaches of charge data, especially with AFIR and other regulations at the horizon. Maybe, it makes sense to do a call about that?

So something like OCPDB as a backend might be a better solution in the mid-term future, if it would provide similar coverage to the current sources.

Sounds very much in line with what we try to do with OCPDB: pure backend project providing as much open data as possible.

How did you get access to the data sources you already have, for example the Ladenetz OCHP interface? Are these generally available to open source developers? Most sources seem to require some sort of credentials.

Yea, that's a pain in the whole industry. The Ladenetz OCHP data are from https://stadtnavi.de , an open mobility routing project.

I was always interested in GoingElectric credentials, btw, but back then, it was not re-publishable. It seems that this changed?

Are you interested in expanding the dataset beyond Germany?

Absolutely!

Do you think there is any chance to get access to open data directly from one of the big roaming platforms such as Hubject? If that were possible, that would of course cover a large number of chargers across Europe with a single API implementation.

I really would like to, but ... well. That's really difficult, as Hubjects business model is a lot about data access. I have some hopes because of AFIR, and the enforcement of publishing data starting at April this year, but, well, regulation and reality always had some more gaps in the past.

Are you also interested in also trying to aggregate pricing information (something like Chargeprice, but as open data)? EVMap currently uses Chargeprice, but their API is not cheap and the data is also not always up to date.

Yes, although this is quite some work if we want to do that in a good way. The variety of prices and contract conditions are quite a pain, for end users and for developers.

Do you only consider official, documented APIs that are intended for third-party access (ideally under an open license), or are unofficial, but publicly accessible APIs (for example those used to drive interactive maps on the websites of MSPs/CPOs) also fine?

Of course I prefer open data. I would be fine to develop importers for non-open-data, but I do see a legal risk to host that. Maybe, it makes more sense to ask for AFIR data?

Would you be interested in matching the OCPDB dataset not just to the BNetzA database, but also to data sources like GoingElectric and Open Charge Map? They don't have realtime status, but more detailed information about the charging locations, such as photos, descriptions, user comments, etc., which are useful to drivers. Also, they list some additional chargers that are not connected to any of the roaming platforms.

Absolutely, when we connect databases, matching is essential, and especially crowdsourced databases have often the same issue as BNetzA data has: no EVSE = no global unique identifier to make a simple matching.

[johan12345]

Hi, thank you for the response!

Yes, the GoingElectric API terms and conditions are unfortunately quite restrictive, see here - the data is not re-publishable. I guess in general it might be okay to access their data from a server - but that server should then not provide access to the GoingElectric data through a public API (which would fine for EVMap if I were to run my own instance and protect its API - but not for a public OCPDB instance).

Maybe matching could still be done on the server, but then just provide the ID of the matching GoingElectric entry without redistributing the rest of the data? The downside then is that chargers that only appear on GoingElectric couldn't be included. And as you said, the matching is not quite straightforward as GoingElectric doesn't have the EVSEID (at least not available through the API).

I know that there are some pretty good open data efforts in other European countries, including realtime data for at least a a significant portion of the operators:

• Switzerland (ich-tanke-strom)
• Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland) (Nobil)
• Latvia

Austria also has open data, but without realtime status so far.

In terms of public but undocumented APIs, I know of:

• EnBW (map with realtime data)
• Shell Recharge (map with realtime data)
• Various providers on Chargecloud servers, e.g. this one (OCPI)
• Tesla (realtime data & pricing available for Superchargers that are open to the public - for Tesla-exclusive ones you can get the data as well, but only with a Tesla account)
• Hubject (if I remember correctly, this one is heavily rate limited)

I have some hopes because of AFIR, and the enforcement of publishing data starting at April this year, but, well, regulation and reality always had some more gaps in the past.

Oh yeah, good point. Maybe it makes sense to contact Hubject and/or some of the CPOs on how they are planning to address these requirements from the AFIR...

Yes, although this is quite some work if we want to do that in a good way. The variety of prices and contract conditions are quite a pain, for end users and for developers.

Yes, unfortunately 🙁. The data structure would need to accomodate all the possible pricing models and roaming agreements, and it's also not easy to gather this data (would probably need to be crowdsourced and/or scraped from the CPOs' and EMPs' apps/websites).