About ShowMyStop.com

Crownstar is a small development company based in The Hague, The Netherlands. ShowMyStop.com is our first new product based on IoT devices.

We asked, what would it take to display realtime local tram stop information on a dedicated display?

An investigation was started at the end of 2018 into how this noble plan could be achieved.

  • A data source was needed. The KV78 Turbo feed is used in the first version from ovdata.nl. Migration to Google GTFS API is on the horizon.
  • A small, cheap but powerful processor with plenty of open source support. The ESP32 & ESP8266 chips were selected due to their power and available software examples
  • Work out how to program the devices. The Arduino IDE is the most accessible tool out there at the moment. This allows the programmer to use the C language, complie and download firmware to the ESP32 and ESP8266 chips and has many available package extensions.
  • Find a suitable display. Not only that a suitable and stable graphics library. It was decided to use the OLED 2.4" displays from DIY More and the U8GL library.

Programming started in March 2019 and after the usual trials and tribulations a first version was produced.

Many updates later, the device software is now supported by an API service which proxy's the device request for stop data to OVData.nl.

Device Firmware Features:

  • On startup the device display shows the device id and the software version.
  • The device will request local WiFi information from the customer if it does not know any. It does this by creating an open WiFi Access Point for the customer to access and then configure the device to use the local WiFi.
  • Once configured, the device will attempt to access the local WiFi and if successful it will then contact the API server to obtain instructions
  • Having received instructions from the API server, the device will then carry out those instructions and display the required public transport stop

The barebones of a supporting website is available in beta at https://ShowMyStop.com - as you can see! This enables customers to register their devices and then to configure which stop they wish to display on their device.

Next stage is now to decide on a MVP for consumer version.

  • Custom PCB - integrate OLED screen.
  • Case.
  • Packaging.
  • Safety Certificates.
  • Arrange for testing, manufacturing and import of final product
  • Add eCommerce service to website

Meanwhile!

The Hague is the first area to be covered for the ShowMyStop OV Device. Display of any HTM Tram or Bus stop in The Hague area will work right now.

Next areas to do covered are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht and finally the whole of The Netherlands.

Customer feedback and especially updates to the Public Transport Stop database based on customer real-world reports will be incorporated into the website

In parallel, Dutch trains will be included into the offering. This is hard! But will be done.