It’s 11am on Day 2 of the Ordnance Survey Map and Hack. Little sleep and lack of fresh air is going to force me to take a break over lunch.
We finalised our plan for the hackathon:
If I’m driving in an urban environment and need to find EV charging, I can’t refer to a web browser. I can’t search by typing on the sat nav on my phone. What I really want is an automatically generated list with my EV charging preferences (speed of charge, attachment type) that I can see from my car’s infotainment screen or I can call with a voice command (more on this later).
We think we have nailed it.
OS API use
A really obvious use for mapping APIs would be for the sat nav system. It could be rendering map tiles, designing routing algorithms, or a super-fast place lookup feature. Whilst these will be explored with the OS APIs we simply don’t have time for an app update (even a TestFlight) in the hackathon timeframe.
Arriving at an EV charging station with in-vehicle announcement
A really obvious use for mapping APIs would be for the sat nav system. It could be rendering map tiles, designing routing algorithms, or a super-fast place lookup feature. Whilst these will be explored with the OS APIs we simply don’t have time for an app update (even a TestFlight) in the hackathon timeframe.
Instead, we need to focus much more on the brains of the Eloy app: the back-end system that makes the app and its features work. This also forms the building blocks for our app extension system where other businesses can build functions into the Eloy app.
OS Maps API
We are using this API to enhance the maps portal we internally use and share with partners via our partners portal. Our aim over time would be to add additional layers of information that can be further building blocks for building connected car services deployed via Eloy.
OS Names API
We decided to use this as a back-end search to make it easier to explore data shown in the partners portal. Partners are likely to build connected vehicle services that are associated with destinations.
Charging Network Database
We are using this database for local EV charge point locations. We note that this data is static and is missing key information such as availability of the charging bay. Useful for a first version and within the hackathon timeframes.
Real EV user journey
We are getting close but I hope to be able to film driving in my car in town and use the car’s infotainment system to find nearby charging and launch navigation to those charge points. We will also generate additional driver messages as they approach the bay (thinking we will stick with “you have arrived” for simplicity).
In the meantime…back over to the rest of the team whilst I get myself presentable for some filming! We will add it to the end of the blog when we are finished.
Our finished EV charging navigation prototype, completed in just 48 hours
