Smart Home Data Aggregator?
The devices in our homes are getting smart. That is awesome. We can manage our energy consumption and much more with a lot more precision and intelligence now.
But I find myself logging into one app to get data on my thermostats, another to get data on my security system, another to get data on my solar panels, and another to get data on my electric vehicles. And then there is all of the billing data from the various utilities and other providers we have.
It’s a bit of a production each month when I want to see how we are doing. And I use a spreadsheet to collect and analyze all of this data.
It makes me wonder if there is a Yodlee or Plaid for smart home data and if there is a Mint-like application that pulls it all together for you.
Of course I could go do the homework to figure that on my own, but I assume I’m not the only person in the AVC community who has this need. So it’s better for me to blog this question here and we can all find the answer in the comments.
And if there is no good answer, well then that is a good startup opportunity.
Comments (Archived):
True, but what do you think is the current TAM size for this type of tool?
Typical utility company will pay $5 – $10 per SME utility meter per year for simple advice.Consider the C&I market (ignore domestic while land and expand happens)The US market this is about 5.5 M employers so say USD 25M – 50M pa# Given Average fiscal meter per company just under 1 for Gas electricity as not all companies have their own property. – ( just heating and cooling )Add perhaps 1 USD per household pa (absorbed into utility bills) thats another 127M for electicity – maybe 25M for network gasData is more available outside US – generally centralised plant / furnaces / air handling rather than split-functions, more mains served buildings, decentralised energy markets, and more sophistic energy management.The enterprise market is smaller numerically but more valuable because they have a continual search problem – ie ” where is current biggest issue ?” – not “tell me if I have a problem”Considering energy use buildings use about 40% and 10% savings are relatively achievable on average – This could make a dent in climate change.Disclosure – kWIQly are serving enterprise market in UK and starting Europe – about to open up in C&I markets
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Agreed, a personal home data hub has got to be on the horizon….particularly as we look to both analyze and monetize the data we create.Check your in-box mid day….Over/under is 10 pitch decks and 6 requests to grab coffee….
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Not related except as to the meta aspect, but I love this new app called Urbi which maps out all the various car-shares, scooter shares bikes etc available in real time, at least in Europe.I’m in Madrid now and this thing is great for telling me the options including companies I already belong to and others I could join.https://www.urbi.co
Why doesn’t Google maps do that ? I have been wondering that for almost a decade. It is why ive never understood the long term defensibility of Uber and Lyft
Simple: the field is still quite young, moving fast, at least for right now it takes the focus of a nimble startup to nail this (sure, Google could spin 1 up if it thought the excercise worthwhile).And Google clearly sees it as a referral, probably affiliate thing for now, which is why on gmaps right now (in Berlin for example) you do see 1 scooter company, Lime, despite there also existing 8 different competitors. Same with the rideshare options – – you tend to see just Uber lyft maybe a third or fourth company but only if gmaps has done a deal with them.
I think Lyft now shows all ride options, not just their own.
Or maybe I’m missing your point when you say “for almost a decade” – – the car share options (in NYC for example) have indeed been around at least five or six years. And to be clear with this app I’m talking about services for driving these vehicles yourself, as opposed to ride-sharing like Uber and Lyft…
Fred, a 3rd and final comment on this for now I know that gmaps is in fact working on this as we speak, they are already doing betas of “multi-modal” transport options which could for example give you a scooter from your house to a subway station then a bike from the exit to a ferry to a self-driving car etc etc
Probably tied up in data sharing negotiations with partners.
Citymapper
I feel the same about a smart health data aggregator.Curious what you are analysing the data for. Intellectual curiosity/budgeting/tax?
Apple Health App does a pretty good job. Suggest trying that first.
there is life outside the apple ecosystem
not for measuring and monitoring anything to do with the electric currents of your heart.huge holes in what can be done once you have real time all the time massive data for the first time, but for now they own this piece of the world and the future.
While you’re at it – I would *love* something sim. for making a playlist of tv shows across all my streaming video apps/subscriptions.
ForBut I find myself logging into one app to get data on my thermostats, another to get data on my security system, another to get data on my solar panels, and another to get data on my electric vehicles. And then there is all of the billing data from the various utilities and other providers we have. Thermostats: Each of the house, freezer, and refrigerator has one. They were set long ago, and I haven’t looked at them since and don’t want to.Security System: There are dead bold locks on the doors. The windows are locked. There is a keypad for the garage door. They have all been just fine since long ago with no need to check them.Solar Panels: Don’t have or want any.Electric Vehicles: Don’t have or want any.The gas tank in my car is about 1/2 full. I might top it off the next time I see a gas station.Bills: I get just one bill for electric power, natural gas, water, sewer, and trash. My simple records show that I paid them via a debit card on 9/24/2019.Nutten to it!Gee, fixing that problem is a “startup opportunity”? WOW!
😉 See my post above !
I’ve been beta testing an insurtech company’s offering around centralizing smart devices. Company is called Purple Ant: https://www.purple-ant.com/
We just acquired SmartHouse.com and HomeManagement.com and launching our MVP on them (realtychain.com) end of this month. First out does the IP Cams, utility but th single panel interface is expanding quickly but its gets fun and better when we gamify it. We are launching HomeChallenge.com (DAO) and will focus on gamify Home energy consumption with our three prong strategy.. If anyone has Utility API access, were buying/partnering with other data feeds.. thanks,
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Data on thermostats, solar panels and electric vehicles i get.”another to get data on my security system” – why? Your art’s in a free port warehouse, and your money’s in Deutsche Bank (or so it would have you believe).
CB Insights just published a post on how Google is aiming to do basically what you describe in the post — but also act on that aggregate data. https://www.cbinsights.com/…
Check out https://www.home-assistant.io/. A bit more involved but with a little bit of setup time you can set up a local home data and control/ automation hub with complete control of data being generated. I have set it up to log all data to a mysql db with a https://www.metabase.com/ tool with auto updating charts.
On the subject of data access and management, the new Google Recorder app ticks a few boxes;https://9to5google.com/2019…
Keep Life simple. Common sense gets one 80% there. Does one really need to analyze this data ?(Note: Your personal circumstances may make this analysis worthwhile, but I wonder if that’s the case for many people on the planet).Its like with sleep monitoring devices. How refreshed and energized you feel when you wake up in the morning tells you how well you slept. You don’t need to analyze sleep data on a device.Keep Life simple.
KLS not OCD.
and wheres the fun in that! 🙂
But comparing health data to home data is not a fair comparison, is it?
You are right of course, they are different. Should not have said “like”.p.s. Also wasn’t referring to all health data.Rather, to things like sleep (or activity) – things that your body gives you natural guidance on.
Ok, but you know- not everybody is so self aware enough to be on self control. Ideally, it is the case. But sometimes the data can make you realize some areas to improve on.
i have the same question
You may be correct on home data, sleep data not there.Big fans of Oura rings in our household.
OK…I like to align with the body’s natural feedback.
strong ties into the wellness bio hacking space through investments and personal interest is all. as a side thing.data is useless without interpretation of course.data is invaluable if it can provide insight to health and balance and action obviously.what is cool about data from Oura or Apple watch is that for the first time we can get it, map it, parse it.what is exciting is now that we can do this 24/7, we can start to understand it and what it can mean, what actions we can take.with sleep, with the heart data from Apple watch, this is just starting.being healthy and making it a goal is jus a really big deal to me.
You may be correct on home data, So i like it
I was in the same situation, and I thought I needed an aggregator, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea anymore. Why make it easy for someone to hack into all your systems at once? Better to keep them segregated. I’ve solved this by placing all my home automation/security App into a single folder, and that solved my dilemma for easy/centralized access.That said, the App Wink lets you integrate some other apps into it, like car garage, temperature, cameras, Nest, lamps, etc, but it’s not all comprehensive. There will always be one device or app that’s missing, so you might as well put them in a folder.
I think there is a difference between data aggregation and “app integration”. The simplest and best way to do this opens you to no security hacks. But the problem is that the business models of the various tool providers want to keep you locked in to their various “eco”systems. There are HUGE benefits to be realised by having a smart aggregator that does real analysis of your data and can recommend improvements, suggest alternate providers the would save you money, and more.The reality is, though, that “the market” works against anyone solving this problem. It is not something “the market” can fix. And I don’t see anyone trusting an organisation or a government to do it either.It’s a great idea, but I’m having a hard time figuring out any business around it in the 5 minutes I dedicated to thinking about it. *Maybe* if one paid a fee to the service to aggregate one’s data… But nobody would be willing to do that.
Agreed I somewhat conflated app & data integration. & yes, I’m not sure yet how various home data can be interrelated to provide value that someone pays something for.
Siloed software and lack of integration is a big issue.We are solving the same problem on the commercial real estate side. We’ve built https://facilio.com/ to do just that. We aggregate from all your systems and make it actionable.We are seeing a lot of change and companies on the issues you mention.
I’ve been using Home Assistant for aggregating all my smart devices (lights, entertainment, door locks, security sensors and cameras, thermostats, etc). It keeps both a logbook of all activities (example: “6:29AM: Bedroom lights turned on”, “7:02AM: Front door opened”), as well as giving me a histogram for data points (example: main floor temperature over time). It’s definitely not as user friendly as an off the shelf solution like Smart Things or Wink would be, but I like that it’s open source and locally hosted.
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Hmm
Super
and if they are around, tell them to get a Helium plug in or API.
I used to work for a company that has buil a smart home aggregator and also built a tool to connect different systems with one another. I think a big challenge, as it is not scalable and dependant on the system owner’s strategy, is the (customized) integration of all the systems into the platform. Check it out if you like http://www.conradconnect.com/en
Fred–I think this makes a lot of sense and is an opportunity. The home services industry is a 400B mkt opportunity. Id love to manage more effectively my home appliances (water heaters/garage doors/fridge, etc) and home systems coverage (a/c, plumbing, electrical, sewage pipes). Had I had this platform it could have saved me $ in that I could have anticipated something breaking, esp on the home systems side (potential savings of $5,000-10,000). There are other applications too w/ pest+termite mgmt, smart meters–utilities + better insulation, water mgmt, security/camera systems, insurance, warranties, etc…to fully aggregrate and have all this data in a central spot.Being based here in Memphis there is Servicemaster and Front Door, the 2 big publically traded co’s who are doing some of this already. They are thinking more innovatively these days. I just dont know to what degree with starting up vs buying.Not every one has an electric car or solar panels, so it would need to equally appeal to middle America + the large cities to give it scale.This platform could be applied to other industries ie health care/data/dr visits/scores/blood pressure/heart rates/etc…including all fam membersLets discuss. Maybe USV could fund it!!!
Ping the NSA? They have it all. 🙂
We just built a new house…moved in June 2018. Everything is run by Control4. We have access to Door Locks, TV, Lights, Garage Door, HVAC, Music, Shades/Curtains, and Cameras from one app. It isn’t everything you mentioned but it is a lot in one place…seems like most new smart devices have a driver that allow them to integrate with Control4.
Check out IOTAS
There’s a smarthome in Westport, CT, that runs off solar panels and a Tesla battery (also, another one in Norwalk, CT, that runs off Tesla solar shingles). The sun powers the battery and then the battery runs the home when there is no sun. The software that runs it all is produced by Apple (basically, a Tesla + Apple venture). The system is available exclusively through TecKnow which also has a demo showroom in downtown Westport. I’ve been to the demo showroom and the technology is pretty amazing; all the data points you are talking about are pulled together into one system.Here is the TecKnow website – https://www.tecknow.me/
We have old-style thermostats. I got tired of the kids leaving the heat on 70 degrees overnight. My high-tech solution involved a Sharpie and a Post-it note. That’s all it took. No wires. No apps. No training.
.You are really going to love the “empty nest.”You wine doesn’t disappear. Your car gas tank stays full. The thermostat sleeps in. Your Netflix account works. The hot tub temp stays set and it actually works. The refrigerator does not eat the food.Of course, you miss the little boogers and, then, there are grandchildren.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
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Fred you’re a billionaire (in some currency, I’m sure) why are you spending time putting spreadsheets together on your residential data usage tends?
Because he’s one hell of a curious guy!
In-home penetration on internet abled security systems or thermostats is prob fairly high, with the % of homes with both prob significantly lower. From there penetration and interaction w/ solar, electric vehicles and other iOT devices drops precipitously into no man’s land.You’re a leading edge, early adapter outlier, Fred. The rest of us are pretty much Luddites.
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You need a spreadsheet ! ? – So it wont work for more than a tiny % of end-consumers right out of the gate.Suppose thermostats and utility bills ?Combine consumption (maybe-half-hourly) with weather and apply occupancy patterns and some feedback about your comfort – collated from your thermostat- a set of models emergesMaybe X power under Y conditions achieves comfort for this space when occupied.This is true (with fine-tuning) of all living spaces.Solution is generic and the requirements are for centralised discovery (hint utility company) and subsequent distributed action.Centralised discovery enables problem search (eg who can save where and how)In no way is a user created distributed spreadsheet that needs weather input typically any better than harmful !PS kWIQly = kW, IQ, fast – Geddit !
This is simply not true with a little more imagination. Imagine something that has *all* the data, plus weather data, pricing data, provider market data, etc. etc. and can make intelligent recommendations for providers, settings, etc. Can’t really do that with your own spreadsheet. (Although I like your point and it’s mostly true until people have enough data they can work with (or that the machine can work with))
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Was chatting about this last night with somebody from the Mozilla (disbanded) IoT team. There is A LOT to imagine here.
Of course there are many different home solutions now that provide management features for your connected home devices, no matter what they are. They can provide you with certain aspects of data but I believe the question here is bigger than that. With the development of 5G, there will be more devices connected and more data to understand and control – your right that you cant continue to do this with your spreadsheet! :)If you are looking for a Startup working on this — SAM Seamless Network developed a solution designed to provide security and management of home networks and devices and is continuing to develop for the growing market with 5G. Would be happy to discuss further with you!http://securingsam.com/
We, Datafund, just announced an ecosystem project called Fairdrive that tackles exactly this: http://fairdrive.xyz (direct link: https://beta.giveth.io/camp… )You can think of Fairdrive as “decentralised dropbox, google drive, onedrive” where user has full privacy while apps can easily save and read data from it. It is fully decentralised, running on Ethereum’s Swarm and a proof-of-concept is already working within our Fairdrop dapp (i.e. “decentralised wetransfer.com”; https://fairdrop.xyz). On our testnet, we can currently upload/download 100GB big files.We believe that data belongs to the user and that in a digital world everybody needs their private storage. As this is a value shared across the ecosystem, we need to have a wider dialogue where projects in this space collaborate on a best solution for the user – to not have data scattered across many accounts while preserving privacy. Moreover, in the decentralised world, this unbundles the concept of the app into algorithms, data and processing (which can be independent markets). Fairdrive is free software and will be part of decentralised data commons while it opens new, fair data, business models on top that are human-centric and enable also passive income for its users.
At span.io we’re addressing this very problem while simultaneously trying to reduce the cost of adopting solar, storage, and EVs. I saw this problem first hand developing and deploying the Tesla powerwall – not to mention the multitude of home monitoring and automation solutions that are extremely disparate today. Our vision is to offer an integrated view of your home with real-time control over you generation, storage, and loads.https://cleantechnica.com/2…
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