When something changes
When something changes starts a flow when something moves around your places, instead of on a timer: a new place of a kind opens nearby, a rating drops below a line, a place closes, or a road is closed near a site. xMap checks on the timetable you pick and runs the flow only when a check finds a change, with the changed places as its items. A quiet week costs only the checks.
In the editor: Starts the flow when something changes around your places, instead of on a timer: a new place of a kind opens nearby, a rating drops below a line, a place closes, or a road is closed near a site. xMap checks on the timetable you pick and runs the flow only when something changed. Each check is a small search, paid as one.
Settings
Watch for
Pick oneA new place of a kind opens within the distance; a place’s rating goes from the line or more to under it; a place closes; or a road is closed (or roadworks start) near a place.
- A new place opens nearby
- A rating drops below
- A place closes
- A road closure near a site
Kind of place
A list you typeUp to 4 kinds of place from xMap’s places database (the same list as Nearby places). Not used for road closures.
Up to 4 kinds, from xMap’s places database.
Pick from 5,462 choices.
Around
A settingUp to 5 places to watch around. Pick each from the list, so it has a position.
Up to 5 places. Each is checked on its own.
Within
Pick oneHow far from each place to look.
- 250 m
- 500 m
- 1 km
- 2 km
- 5 km
Rating below
A numberA place counts when its rating goes from this or more to under it.
Needed before the flow can run.
Check every
Pick oneEach check costs 12 credits (a search for the place), about 1,440 a month. The flow’s own blocks are paid only when something changed and it runs. The first check only looks: changes show from the next one.
- 15 minutes
- Hour
- 6 hours
- Day
What comes out
Each item that leaves the block carries these fields, to use in the blocks after it as {{field}}.
Each change, as an item
Only when a check found a change. The flow then runs once with all of them.
change: What changed, in words.watch: What the block watches.near: Which of your places it is near.previous_rating: For a rating that dropped: the rating before.name, category, rating, status, lat, lng ...: The place’s own fields, as Nearby places gives them (or the road closure’s, as Traffic incidents gives them).
How to use it
A new bakery near any of our shops
A bakery chain in Paris wants to know the moment a new bakery opens within a kilometre of any of its five shops.
Before: A manager walked past a new shop a month after it opened.
With the flow: The team hears about it within a day of it appearing on the map.
A road closed near the depot
A courier in Toronto wants a message when a road is closed near its depot, before the vans leave.
Each check is one road search; the email goes only when a new closure appears.
A competitor’s rating falls under 4
A franchise team in Sydney wants to approach the customers of competitors whose rating is slipping.
A merchant closes
A closed merchant with an open account is worth a call the same week.
New openings around a listing
New neighbours are good news for the listing’s description.
A new pharmacy near our clinics
Good to know
- A check is a search for each kind of place around each place (12 credits each), or a road search for closures (25 credits a place). The block says what a check and a month of checks cost. The flow’s own blocks are paid only when it runs.
- The first check only looks: changes show from the next one.
- It checks while the flow is live; pausing the flow stops the checks.
- Without enough credits a check is skipped, and the next one tries again.
- Closed places and ratings come from xMap’s places database; road closures from Traffic incidents.
- A test run uses an example change, so you can build the rest of the flow before anything changes.
Works well with
- Nearby places: Places around a point from xMap’s own places database (300M+ places, refreshed every month): pick the types of place (more than 5,000, such as Restaurant, Cafe, Pharmacy, Hospital or Gas station, or a whole group of them) and how far to look.
- Traffic incidents: Road closures, roadworks and other incidents on online maps right now, with where they are.
- xMap LLM: Tell the AI what to do in plain words.
- Filter: Keeps only the items that match a rule.
- Email: Sends one email per run with all the items, or one email per item.
- Slack: Channel-based messaging platform
- CRM lookup: Looks each incoming item up in your CRM through its own search: is this company already a customer, is this email a contact?
Templates that use it
- New industrial sites near a nature reserve: A note the day a plant, quarry or dump opens near a protected area.
- New marine suppliers near the port, the day they open: Each new marine supplier near the port, the day it opens.
- A new vet clinic opens near mine: A note the day a new vet clinic opens near yours.
- Rivals near me whose rating drops: A note when a nearby rival’s rating falls below 4, with a way to win its customers.
- New hotels opening near mine: A new hotel near yours the day it appears, with its likely impact.
Stories with it
- No guest drags a suitcase past a closed street (Short-term rentals)
- Eight cabs that hear about a closure first (Airport taxis)
- A closed autobahn, and the yard never jams (Air cargo forwarding)
Help articles
- Run a flow when something changes: A new place nearby, a rating that drops, a place that closes, a road closed near a site.
Industries that use it
Hotels & tourism · Environment & climate · Ports & shipping · Pet care & veterinary · Home services & trades
Try it
Build a flow with When something changes on the home page, no account needed, or book a call. Try it live