Inspiration
With the unpredictability of the British weather, I wanted to create a skill that helps me know when to hang the washing out on the washing line. The criteria obviously being to tell me the dry days that will have no rain.
The result is as a user I should know exactly when to do my laundry so that I can hang the clothes outside to dry in the sunlight, rather than using my tumble dryer.
Avoiding using the tumble dryer means I would save money on electricity and it is also better for the environment
What it does
The skill uses the OpenWeatherMap API, combined with the Alexa Location API to get your location.
It will look at the amount of rainfall during daylight hours, and suggest the days which are dry only. Thus avoid getting caught out by one of them days where it looks like a sunny day, but you have a sudden downpour!
It also highlights which day would be the best (of the dry days) - this is based on the average temperature of them days.
How I built it
The skill was built using C# for the API as an azure function. It uses third party APIs OpenWeatherMap to obtain weather data, and Google Maps API to get accurate locations that can be used with weather APIs.
Challenges I ran into
Choosing an API that served my needs and melding the data so that it can be used by the skill. Learning the Alexa API for obtaining user location
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
Making the skill serverless. Retrieving location information in the new suggested ways though the Alexa location API's
What I learned
Learned a new API with OpenWeatherMap, as well as Google Maps API
What's next for Washing Line Alexa Skill
Use the new location API provided by amazon to determine users location.
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