Thanks to the new iOS 12 Shortcuts, Webhooks and IFTTT, I can plot a point just by saying it.

Yeah, it actually works.

OK. It might not be as impressive as it seems, but it is a start and fun to do.

  • The first step is Calling out “Hey Siri, Log point.”
  • This Runs a shortcut for the iOS Shortcut app.
  • Then Siri tells me (some derivative of) “OK, Done”
  • That Runs the Shortcut seen on the right (partly).
  • Which sends the location of the phone through a Webhook URL with two variables, Latitude & Longitude. (I’m hoping to get three

    variables soon).
  • This runs an IFTTT Applet that will write these values into a Google Spreadsheet
  • That spreadsheet is published as a CSV publicly
  • That is consumed in an ArcGIS webmap,
  • Which is published to this Web Application.

All of these steps are a Google search away and straight forward. I just don’t know if anyone put them all together into on workflow before. When I show the few people that I have, their response has been something like “what would that be used for?”

Well, nothing so far. It’s just the start. Yes the accuracy is horrible. Yes, it’s not a feature class. Yes, there are no attributes. Understanding the building blocks always leads to more advanced capabilities later.

It’s my:

Hello world.

No too Impressive by itself, but represents the possibilities.

Special thanks to Bern S, shortcutsgallery.com, medium.com, reddit