Ships arriving at the port, for the business desk
Ships entering the port each hour, each in one newsy line.
What it does
Every hour: cargo and passenger ships entering your port area (live AIS), each described by xMap AI in one newsy line (what it is, where it is from, where it is going), posted to the business desk channel.
In one sentence: Every hour at :00, in Rotterdam, watch the ships, see which enter the zone, write a summary of each with xMap AI, then send message to a channel in Slack and email the list to you.
Why it is useful
Trade stories start at the port. The desk sees what arrives as it arrives, with a line it can use.
Who it is for
Media, newsrooms & publishing. Newsrooms, broadcasters, publishers and media sales teams who need local stories, audiences and advertisers first. Every use case for media & publishing
Best use cases
- A business newsroom
- A shipping trade magazine
- A port city’s news site
What each run gives you
- A Slack post every hour
The time it saves
Every hour at :00. Doing the same work by hand takes about 15 minutes each time; it runs about 720 times a month, so it saves about 40 hours a month (an estimate). It is medium: 7 blocks.
The flow, block by block
- Every hourTrigger · ScheduleStarts the flow on a timetable.
- The portWhere · Area of interestSets where the flow looks: countries, cities or specific places, or areas you draw on a map.
- Ships in the port areaxMap data · Ships (AIS)Ships at sea or in port right now, from AIS (the signal ships send with their position, speed and heading; live from AISStream): every vessel heard in the Area of interest before this block, or around a point.
- Ships that enteredLogic · Zone alertReports items (ships, for example) that entered, crossed, are inside or left a zone.
- Describe each ship with xMap AIxMap AI · xMap LLMTell the AI what to do in plain words.
- Post them to #business-deskApp · SlackChannel-based messaging platform
- Email me the resultsAction · EmailSends one email per run with all the items, or one email per item.
Every block can be changed after you use the template: the city, the type of place, the score, where the results go.
Use it now
Answer a few questions, enter your work email, and it runs in your own account, kept running until you pause it. Use this template.
How to set it up
- Zone alerts: know when something enters an area: Ships, vehicles or any moving item crossing your zone.
- Ships (AIS): Ships in a sea area, their type, speed and destination.
- Build your first flow in ten minutes: From a blank page to a flow that emails you a ranked list every morning.
- Draw your areas and points: Shapes, circles and points with a distance around each.
- Geofencing: A virtual boundary that triggers something when an item enters or leaves it.
- AIS (ship tracking): Radio messages ships send with their identity, position and course.
- How to be alerted when ships enter a port area: A zone, a live AIS stream and an alert.
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