Better software for eBike Log / Trip Data Analysis??

[mwkeefer]

Hello All,

Currently I have a combination of sensors and logging equipment but most often I find myself using my EagleTree v3 eLogger with GPS + my iPhone 3GS with software which records GPSX trail logs.

The issue isn't logging but analysis... To date I have not been able to find a "bike" friendly GPS or navigation software package. Yep, I'm using either Google Earth or Google Maps to see my travels which works fine there but anyone who has ever tried to use EagleTree can tell you... there aren't many options for output.

What I am seeking is a SW package which can display the logged GPS trail but also show me largest climbs, averages durring climb/descent - speed / distance is enough but integrating the available logs from EagleTree would be nice to see the current and power a particular surge consumed... I have been searching for weeks to no avail for a package or packages which could do this, currently I use DTS (well it's not DTS anymore but it's still Data Transformation Services) to import the EagleTree logfiles into SQL Server 2008 in order to analyze and find "hot spots" or areas of increased current and then I have stored procs to generate new GPSX files and output the data with the hotspots documented for Google Maps... this is sufficient but time consuming and annoying. I also analyze the climb/descent rates and add them to the output tracks so I can identify a gradient percentage and climb durration / current / mah consumed.

I am posting this open request for info prior to actually cracking open Visual Studio and coding something on my own (why invent the wheel if I don't need too?) to fill this niche... any ideas are greatly appreciated!

If the turn-key sw doesn't exist to anyone's knowledge I will break out VS and code the whole package I have into SQL Server Express (or maybe do a platform independant package and use SQLite or MySQL) and release it here on ES so I am open to any suggestions or comments before making this a standalone (if the sw is not already out there).

Thanks in advance everyone!

-Mike

 

[mwkeefer]

So I assume that there is not a suitable software package out there in the RC or otherwise general public domain...

I forgot to add that I would like course directions which take into account efficiency of eBike at various speeds and inclinations to plot the directions in the most efficient, fastest, shortest but with an eBike specific profile for routing...

Guess that I'm on the hook for this = )

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome at this point, I will begin to craft a GUI for this app.

Since I've had 0 comments on this I will simply keep it Windows only (makes my life easier) and code it up in visual studio.

I will work out some requirements and design specs later and post them for comment.

-Mike

 

[mwkeefer]

Update:

Since there were no posts... I assume noone has a source of software to do this so I have begun writing the GUI in .net and currently can display the GPX waypoint data on a map (with track) and I can display elevation mapping... currently I'm working on integrating with Google maps to get directions but I will have to manually code the navigation points based on elevation and distance with the efficiency of bicycles and ebikes at the forefront of the algo.

This is a several week project but I plan to post the POC this weekend, it will enable to opening and display of eLogger v3 CDR or FDR files, display of the gps tracks ... and export of the GPS data in GPX format. Not too useful but it is a start...

At the same time as I work on this I have begun an LCD wedge which monitors i2c address of LCD and receives serial updates from the eLogger and pushes them into a windows app. I have already decoded the character set and commands sequence from the eLogger which are used to control the LCD and I can control the LCD from any atmel chip (atmega).

-Mike

 

[dak664]

I hope to get similar functionality someday, probably with a GPS module attached to a master AVR in the battery pack which would also write battery data to a transflash card. So I'm interested in what you are doing, but have not thought much about it yet. Suggest you allow for battery data in your file format for showing energy used between waypoints, etc.

 

[mwkeefer]

I hope to get similar functionality someday, probably with a GPS module attached to a master AVR in the battery pack which would also write battery data to a transflash card. So I'm interested in what you are doing, but have not thought much about it yet. Suggest you allow for battery data in your file format for showing energy used between waypoints, etc.

Right now I am planning to output google earth kml files with waypoint specific useage stats incorporated in detail bubbles... I haven't decided the total breakdown yet but I also want to allow for generation of elevation specific maps which show the beginning of a climb to the end and the total power required with bread crumbs in between to show the rising power useage.

This current version of the software will read the eagle tree files in their native format... That's good enough for getting the data into the database and crunching the numbers any way we want... I have alot of this done (not pretty but working) already as I found alot of sample code around the net for GPX handling and plotting course on map and such. It was fairly easy to adapt, to write code to calculate distance, power consumption in wh, ah and wh per mile between way points.

I have decided I must do a throttle wedge so I can capture the throttle position using EagleTree... this is fairly simple to do with an atmel avr... about 20 lines of c++ code total. It will also add a new dynamic to the logging as I will be able to determine the users "intent" or look for more than 50% throttle and measure the peaks... (right now I base the calculation on accelleration over time / power used) to find peaks in the log and calculate their useage.

This is more complicated than I had hoped but... once I have the basics working I will be open sourcing the project on google code for anyone who wants the source. I have been working in VB.nET but I can convert to c# or java if needed.

-Mike

 

[hillbilly]

I don't understand the coding challenges involved but as I also use an Eagle Tree V3 I don't want to let this go by without a comment -- please make this software as ebike-noobie friendly as possible. The frosting on the cake would be a Mac version, though I do use Windows XP with VMware when there is no other way.

Sounds like a great project, all the better for being open source.

Carl