PriusChat Mileage Database - ideas and input for features needed!

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by doubleg2005

second on Tony's

sometimes i'd want to, but there are times (especially here in i HATE how, at greenhybrid, i HAVE to put in avg temp and length of ride. texas) when one day is 100, the next is 80, the next is 90, and then 100, and so on... putting an average temp of 90 would be misleading... also, can you do 5's in the avg temps? like 85, 90, 95, etc?

I would agree and especially about the length of ride part. The ride length varies so much depending on the number and nature of errands I have to do. That info should be definitely optional.

[SureValla]

Sounds like an awesome idea.

One cool thing I do is calculate mpg based on what station I filled up at. I know this is highly variable based on time of year but with more fillups of everyone it would even out no?

[orenf]

Heh... I love this thread. I've been doing software product management for over a decade now - always nice to see s simple feature spin out of control... (in a positive way of course)

My 2 cents:

- Keep required input to a minimum. Make as much of it optional. I want to enter date, mpg, distance. The more options/features added, the less appealing it will be for the masses. If you incorporate all the requests made so far, you'll end up with a service useful only for Prius-enthusiasts (who already have their Excel files, graphs, etc.).

- graceful handling of various measurements, including conversions. How do I compare my 56MPG to your 4.1L/100km? 70F to 23C, etc.

- ability to enter data in the past, for those of us who may take notes while at the gas station, but update ever-so-often.

- ability to edit any item once submitted.

- when showing a summary (table) of tanks, please show the date. GreenHybrid does not, you have to hover over each tank to figure out whether this was a winter tank, etc.

- the summary info provided on GreenHybrid is very nice (the stuff showing on the left-hand side of the table).

- summary stats across users/models are great. as is information showing where one is relative to the crowd.

Is there a REAL need for yet another mileage database? GreenHybris has almost 1,700 Prii - and gets nice exposure, etc. Why re-invent the wheel? Let's face it, most of us will end up updating two sites instead of one.

One last request - kindly consider the 80% of features that would benefit 90% of Prius owners out there... most of us won't use Excel, won't map this-that-or-the-other, etc. Then again the crowd on PC is not your typical Prius owner

[dwreed3rd]

How about grade of gas regular, E10, Etc.

[Prius 07]

Originally Posted by efusco

Indeed, it would be nice to be able to export in an Excel or google spreadsheet.

Import / export to/from Excel this would save us who have our data in Excel to upload historical data. In addition it would allow manipulation of data in Excel at any time. I second the idea of allowing the entry of MFD MPG which is more real on an individual tank basis.
Thanks for the initiative

[bwilson4web]

For some of us testing experimental tires, how about a parameter for tire circumference adjustment, a percentage up or down. This would let us enter the raw miles and have a corrected value saved. The default would be "0%" but once set, it would stick until changed.

Bob Wilson

[dwreed3rd]

Type fuel, regular, E10, ect., would be helpful for comparing mpg.

[samiam]

Originally Posted by JRMurray

Could you please add fuel consumption in litres/100 km for us Canadians, eh?

Not just for the Canadians, for the whole civilised world.

Also, Temp in C please

Also, the zipcode isn't particularly useful as some of us don't have one.

Also, and even more important, an entry for which MFD screen you were using during the majority of the tank.
Maybe we can finally answer whether the histogram or SOC display produces more efficient driving.

[Danny]

Thanks for all of the feedback so far! It sounds like we need to have a huge conference call with the developer so that we can all get what we want

Here's the updated list of specs:

Data fields should include:

• Make/Model/Year (required)
• # miles/Kilometres on tank (required)
• # gallons/Litres/Imperial Litres of gas (required)
• kWh Used
• Cost of gas (USD, GBP, Euro, AUD,NZD, CAD)
• Type of gas (Regular, E10, E85)
• Date of fill-up (automatically populate with today's date, but allow for other choices)
• Average temperature (F or C)
• Time Per Drive
• Zip/Post Code of main driving area
• MFD MPG / L/100 km
• Free Notes section

System auto-calculated MPG (computed once you enter in required info above) in MPG or L/100 km based on distance input above
Ability to handle measurement conversions (MPG to L/100 km, USD to GBP, etc)
Import/Export data via excel/csv with import wizard
View MPGs of people near you using Zip Code data (table & Google Map)
Create graphs per user, per car model, perhaps even by state or municipality
Signature-sized image with mpg data

Tony - Regarding the date population... I meant to say that it could be changed, but that it would be auto-populated with today's date to make it easy for those who input it on the same day as their fill-up.

Temperature - my intention is to make those fields optional. What would be really cool is if you could put in how long your tank lasted, then the system could go backwards from your fill-up date and use the Zip Code to pull in average temperature data. I'm not sure if there are any APIs out there for weather data, though.... hmmm.

bwilson4web, it sounds like you are wanting a more full-fledged Garage system, which I have thought about. I've thought it would be cool to have everyone's VIN so that we could send out notices when there are TSBs or other VIN-related information. I don't think adding on a system like that would be hard and then having it connect in with the mileage database would be easy, so we can sit down and work on that after this project, or we can work on putting together that project now and have it be kind of a "portal" into the mileage database so you would create your car in the system first, then once you create your car you can start entering mileage data.... hmmm... just thinking out loud here.

jammin012 - the idea for the excel/csv upload is for you to upload your file, then you map the fields yourself in the system. The data field labels would be there and then you just tell the import system where your columns are that correspond to the data field labels.

The system would have charts and graphs created along with the data. Hopefully those charts/graphs will be easily exportable into Excel.

You can ask Tony & Evan - I've been floating around the idea of doing this for years, but as PriusChat continues to grow and will (hopefully) really explode with the release of the Gen III Prius next year, there are a lot of "normal" Prius owners who just come here and don't want to deal with joining another site just to have the added feature of the mileage database. To be frank, GreenHybrid really hasn't done anything since it was acquired by Internet Brands - they have about 1/4 the members of PriusChat and seem to be just content floating along. CleanMPG is a great site and I love those guys, their mileage database is a nice system, but I think it's time for PriusChat to cater to our core demographic more effectively.

[samiam]

Great idea & a good list; two quick points though:

1. no such thing as an imperial litre (yet)

2. it is important to use the correct model information. Outside of North America, the current model is known as Gen III. This is important because in NZ and the UK there are a number of "true" Gen I's sold. Because these JDM vehicles don't have any english language manuals or diagnostic equipment available, it is important to distinguish them from the Gen IIs (the classic). And of course, some of us like the fact that we've been driving Gen IIIs for several years.
Toyota Prius Hybrid Car Model History