name: Open Charge Map API FinOps Framework
description: >
  FinOps Framework FOCUS-aligned cost and usage considerations for the Open Charge Map
  API. As a free, community-supported open data project, direct API costs are zero for
  standard usage. FinOps considerations focus on indirect costs: infrastructure to consume
  the API, data storage for cached results, engineering time for integration, and optional
  sponsorship or donation contributions to sustain the open data ecosystem. Organizations
  building commercial products on Open Charge Map data should factor in sustainability
  contributions and plan for potential future access changes.
specificationVersion: '1.0'
framework: FinOps Framework
alignment: FOCUS 1.0
url: https://openchargemap.org/site/develop
provider: Open Charge Map
costDrivers:
  - name: Direct API Cost
    description: >
      The Open Charge Map API is free to use for all registered developers. There are no
      subscription fees, request-based charges, or usage tiers. The primary direct cost
      is zero for read access to the global EV charging station registry.
    category: License
    unit: none
    cost: $0
    optimization: >
      Register for a free API key to ensure stable access and avoid implicit rate limits
      on anonymous requests. API key registration is free at openchargemap.org.

  - name: Community Sustainability Contribution
    description: >
      Open Charge Map is sustained by community donations and organizational sponsorships.
      Organizations building commercial products or services on top of Open Charge Map data
      are encouraged to contribute financially to sustain the project. Failure to support
      the project's sustainability may risk the long-term availability of the free API.
    category: Sustainability
    unit: donation / sponsorship
    cost: Voluntary
    optimization: >
      Budget a nominal sponsorship contribution proportional to the commercial value
      derived from the Open Charge Map dataset. Contact the project via openchargemap.org
      to discuss organizational partnership or sponsorship arrangements.

  - name: API Integration Engineering
    description: >
      Internal engineering effort to integrate the Open Charge Map REST API into
      applications or services. Includes authentication setup, response parsing, geographic
      query design, reference data caching, and handling the 250-result-per-request limit
      for large-area queries through geographic subdivision.
    category: Engineering
    unit: person-hours
    optimization: >
      Cache reference data (connection types, operators, countries) locally as it changes
      infrequently. Use bounding box queries to retrieve targeted datasets efficiently.
      Implement client-side geographic tiling for full-coverage national or regional queries.
      Include the ?client= identifier to avoid traffic being flagged as a bot.

  - name: Data Storage and Caching Infrastructure
    description: >
      Applications consuming Open Charge Map data at scale will incur infrastructure costs
      for caching API responses to reduce repeat requests and improve response times.
      Storing charging station data locally (database, object storage) for offline or
      high-availability use cases incurs storage costs proportional to dataset size.
    category: Infrastructure
    unit: GB-month
    optimization: >
      Implement a local cache with a TTL appropriate to your use case (charging station
      data changes infrequently). Use compact=true and verbose=false query parameters to
      reduce response payload size. Request only the fields necessary for your application.

  - name: Geospatial Query Compute
    description: >
      Applications performing high-frequency geographic searches (e.g., route planning,
      real-time EV navigation) may generate significant API request volume. Compute costs
      for processing geographic queries and rendering results on maps should be accounted
      for in application infrastructure budgets.
    category: Compute
    unit: API requests / map renders
    optimization: >
      Pre-fetch and cache charging station data for commonly queried regions. Use bounding
      box queries to batch-retrieve all stations for a region rather than making per-point
      radius queries. Consider a nightly data sync for stable geographic areas.

costAllocation:
  - dimension: Application / Product
    description: Allocate API integration engineering costs by the product or service consuming Open Charge Map data
  - dimension: Geographic Region
    description: Track data storage and query costs by the geographic regions covered (national, regional, global)
  - dimension: Environment
    description: Separate sandbox/development integration effort from production operational costs
  - dimension: Sustainability
    description: Track voluntary community contribution amounts as a separate line item aligned with open data usage value

budgeting:
  - recommendation: >
      Budget zero for direct Open Charge Map API access costs, but include a line item
      for community sustainability contributions proportional to the commercial value
      derived from the open dataset.
  - recommendation: >
      Allocate engineering budget for geographic query optimization and local caching
      infrastructure to handle the 250-result-per-request limit at scale.
  - recommendation: >
      Plan for potential API changes or access restrictions by implementing a local data
      mirror or cache for mission-critical applications. The project is community-funded
      and access terms may evolve.
  - recommendation: >
      Monitor the Open Charge Map community forum (community.openchargemap.org) for
      announcements about API changes, new features, or access policy updates.

contact:
  website: https://openchargemap.org/
  developer: https://openchargemap.org/site/develop
  community: https://community.openchargemap.org/
  github: https://github.com/openchargemap/ocm-system