Powder Alert

What is Powder Alert ?

You live in Lyon and you really like skiing or snowboarding but you don't want to check everyday for the weather forecast ?

You like off-piste skiing and you want some fresh powder ?

You want to discover a new ski resort or keep exploring the same one ?

Then Powder Alert is what you need !

Users just need to subscribe by giving their mail adress.
Then by selecting one or several ski resort they can receive an email or a text message when it's snowing in the ski resort(s) they are interested in.
For this case we chose the last option, that is to say SMS but you can do the same with en email.

But what concretely happens ?

Users receive a text message everytime it is snowing in their favorite ski resort(s).
Such an alert in the afternoon or the evening means that there will be fresh powder the day after they receive the message.

via GIPHY

How does it work ?

Here we want to create an API.But what is an API ?
Basically, it is an interface that allows you to connect web services together.

To do so we will use IFTTT : If This Then That. This free service enables us to create applets that connect APIs together.
Firts things first create an IFTTT account on their website

As the names suggests IFTTT create a chain reaction.
The chain reaction we want to create here is the following one:
It is snowing The user receives a SMS to warn him that there will be fresh snow the next day.

How do we do so?

We now have to create an applet that will create the chain reaction.
In order to do so, follow the instructions as shown in the images below.
First create an applet connecting Weather Uniform to Webhooks as shown in the picture on the left.
Then create another applet connecting Webhooks to SMS as shown in the picture on the right.
Here Webhooks allows us to use some data from collect through our website.