OS API Product Manager and hackathon judge Charley Glynn said: “We were so impressed with how much data Arcadis brought together. The creativity and innovation of the idea, not only in the application, but also how tangible the positive impact will be for society, and they deserve a huge congratulations.”

Circuit Finder from the Department for Transport was an app which calculates how long a journey will take for EV owners with different needs. Users put in their start point and destination for journeys, and the app finds the best route for them according to their preferences. If someone wants to be in a comfortable place while they wait for their car to charge, they can select that, or if they want to get charged and away as quick as possible, that can be factored in too. Circuit Finder gives a map of the journey with charge points, bespoke stats related to car charging capacity, and timings for how long it will take to charge it. It uses Open Street Map, Open Source Routing Engine API and National Chargepoint Registry data.

Plonkers designed by Ofgem was a concept aimed at levelling up rural communities to help them transition towards becoming EV friendly. The prototype app focused on Thurso in Scotland and investigated where was best to plonk charge points. Using OS Maps API and OS Places API to provide household addresses, and Open Street Map data for tourists, hotels and caravan parks, it investigated households who share the same charging points and distances from the nearest charger.

Rate My Charger was a concept created by RAC Agilysis to promote the best chargers in the country. The idea for the app was to look at what real EV journeys are like and understand what kind of qualities people expect to see from public charging points. The quality of EV charging points was scored based on availability of factors (how safe people felt using them, the quality of a mobile phone signal, whether there were any public conveniences nearby, how scenic the location was, and other amenities nearby). It pulled in data from OS Open Map Local and added open data sources such as Toilet map, CodePoint and UPRN from OS for mobile signal and crime rate open data. Longer term the aim was to understand data about how long people stay at charging points based on its quality and location.

OS’s Head of Geovation Carly Morris said: “It is great to see the combined efforts of start-ups, private enterprise and the public sector, working together and to see what great things have come out of that.

“A particular highlight for a lot of the judges has been the creativity over the two days. It is an amazing breadth and variation we have seen. Of course, it has only been two days but there is potential for even more impact to come from these ideas and OS wants to work closely with them to help grow and develop these ideas through our Geovation community.”

Geospatial Commission’s Head of Policy and hackathon judge Ruth Cookman said: "Innovative uses of location data will be vital in enabling the UK's pathway to net zero and transition to electric vehicles.

“The OS Map & Hack event demonstrated the huge potential of location data and where this impact could be realised - from optimising the location of new infrastructure to improving consumer experience. As a judge, it was impressive to see the amount teams achieved in the two days, including the creativity, complexity and range of ideas.”

ODI’s Head of Consultancy for Data Programmes and hackathon judge Lisa Allen added: “Geospatial data is core data infrastructure and is a vital component of resilient modern societies. It is as essential as roads, railways and the electricity network. Not only in Great Britain but around the world. Events like this help drive innovation, can be a catalyst for growth and build economic and social prosperity in the long run by giving a platform for novel ideas to surface.”

See a better place

Innovation has always been at the centre of what we do.

OS supports Atkins to build underground map of UK's pipes and cables

OS hackathon ideas drive EV infrastructure improvements forward

Latest News

Latest Events

Blog