Grabbing the International Space Station flyover data and visualizing it
The easiest scenario of all begins by piggybacking on preexisting web services and then making the interaction a little more interesting by combining it with some tasks executed by BeagleBone Black.
IFTTT for the ISS
We used the IFTTT web service in our previous chapter to provide part of the machinery to send photos captured on our smartphone. Here, we will use it to help us track the International Space Station (ISS), but we will take the interaction a bit further.
Getting ready
The materials needed are as follows:
The BBB, headless or connected to an external monitor and tethered over USB with Ethernet (or Wi-Fi, if you choose)
A smartphone with cell or Internet connectivity
How to do it…
Perform the following steps:
The easiest, most basic way to get the ISS's flyover data is by signing up for SMS alerts from NASA's website at http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/index.cfm.
The first few times you get the alert, it is a thrill...
