Amazon recently announced the Device Address API for Alexa developers. The API enables Alexa skills to request the address configured into a customer's device settings. In turn, such skills can garner better context and understanding surrounding customers' use of said skills and then customize experiences accordingly.
To demonstrate, Amazon provided a skill example of delivering food and groceries to a customer's home. To effectively use the skill, a specific address is required. Before using such data, the skill will request the customer's permission to use address data associated with the Alexa device. Customers have the option to share different levels of location data: full address (i.e. street address, city, state, zip, and country), or country and postal code only. Developers must affirmatively enable location services within a skill, as the default choice is "none."
To get started with the Device Address API, developers can configure a skill within the Amazon Developer Portal. To turn the function on, indicate that the skill requires address information. Next, configure the skill to request location permission in the configuration tab. In the permissions section, select device address and select either full address or country & postal code only.
It is important to note that the API DOES NOT use GPS tracking. Rather, the location details are purely associated with the address manually inputed into the device settings by the customer. To learn more, visit the documentation. Amazon includes companies like AccuWeather, Just Eat, and Real as partners already using the new API.
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Summary:
Amazon has empowered more location-based services through Alexa with the release of a Device Address API. The API allows for the development of Alexa skills that require location data. For instance, consider a food delivery skill. Without an address, the skill would not function accurately.
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