[georss] Transport of Toponyms with GeoRSS

Sat Aug 19 21:44:17 EDT 2006

Noiv -

To have a version 1.0 of GeoRSS be approved as an international standard 
requires a number of steps. Comments on using the OGC process are obviously 
welcome. Also, I need to point out that OASIS, the OGC, the IETF, W3C, and 
many other standards setting organizations have similar policies and 
procedures for formally accepting, reviewing, approving, and editing a draft 
standard prior to its becoming an approved standard.  Please note that if 
GeoRSS is inserted into the OGC standards process, all of the work of the 
GeoRSS collaboration would be fully acknowledged.

We need to start the processing by writing a draft document in the proper 
document template that defines the information model and the GML 
serialization for version 1 GeoRSS, have the GeoRSS group review the 
document, and then have one or more OGC members submit the document into the 
OGC for consideration for approval as an international standard. The process 
then has a number of steps. However, given that GeoRSS is partially a 
profile of GML, according to the rules of the OGC, if we have a draft 
document ready by September 11, we can have OGC member final approval by the 
end of this year. There are a number of steps that need to be done as part 
of the OGC process, including a 30 day public comment period.

Anyway, Josh and I are working on the draft document. When it is ready, we 
will send to the list for comment.

Regards

Carl

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "noiv" <noiv11 at gmail.com>
To: <georss at lists.eogeo.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2006 1:31 AM
Subject: Re: [georss] Transport of Toponyms with GeoRSS

> Ron,
>
> I'd like to invite you to go a step or two back and
> see the whole picture or planet:
>
> The earth is not a perfect sphere, any coordinate system
> is an approximation.
>
> In 99% there are no houses and no addresses, because there
> are oceans, deserts and rain forests.
>
> The continents are drifting, you should not rely on coordinate systems,
> when you scale down to centimeters and want to drive a car.
>
> The moon makes the surface moving up and down every day,
> thus elevation data is not fixed nor accurate.
>
> Numbers cause failures, don't mix up the pin-code of
> your bank account.
>
> But does all these things could stop us from:
> giving Reuters the chance to release more useful news or
> turning the millions of flickrs into a geo-photo-community or
> helping agencies to communicate more efficiently about
> tsunamies, earthquakes, biological hazards and hurricanes and
> save lives at the end ?
>
> I think not.
>
>
> Mike, Carl, Josh,
>
> which steps are mandatory to convert a draft into a standard ?
>
> --
> Torsten Becker - ExploreOurPla.net
>
>
>
> 2006/8/17, Ron Lake <rlake at galdosinc.com>:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Coordinates provide part of the story.  In many problems this means
>> using more than one way to specify where something is. For some problems
>> coordinates relative to the earth's surface make sense and in many
>> problems that an accommodated with sufficient accuracy by a geographic
>> coordinate system (lat,lon).  For many other problems coordinates need
>> to be specified relative to some other known/identified point.  These
>> might be (x,y,z) relative to some origin point (e.g. corner of a room,
>> corner of a building) or they might be coordinates along something -
>> like km from a road intersection.  Now these can be expressed
>> (sometimes) in geographic coordinates but it may not be sufficiently
>> accurate, nor easy to understand.  I don't tell you my house location in
>> (lat,lon) not just because of accuracy issues - but also because it is
>> easier to understand my postal address or that I am 2 km from the
>> intersection of 11th and Folk Street.
>>
>> Note also that coordinates are not a safe way in many cases to identify
>> something - since when you make data transformations the values of the
>> coordinates are effected by computational errors.  A small adjustment of
>> the coordinates might in some cases "move" the point in question so that
>> it is no longer inside the object of interest.
>>
>> These issues are handled in GML (on which geoRSS is based) by supporting
>> any number of coordinate systems.  Tools can then perform coordinate
>> conversions as required.  In a great number of circumstances, data will
>> be transformed into a single coordinate system for viewing and user
>> interaction - so that there is a coordinate system that means something
>> in the users context.  For "global" problems this is typically some kind
>> of geographic system - for more local problems (think about navigating
>> inside a building) other systems are more natural and easier to relate
>> to.
>>
>> The other key element in the story, and one that is only partly
>> addressed in geoRSS thus far is that of features.  Features are entities
>> that people relate to in a specific problem domain - so are easy to
>> understand - things like bridges, buildings, restaurants and parks.
>> Sometimes all we want to know is that we are "inside" or "near" to the
>> feature in question - without really knowing where it is.  At other
>> times we are more concerned with other properties of the thing - like
>> how large it is - is the road paved - what kind of food does the
>> restaurant have. Since geoRSS is built on GML - once create GML features
>> that represent these things that matter to us, along with their location
>> (in various coordinate systems), there size and shape and other
>> properties of interest.
>>
>> So coordinates yes - features too.
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>> R
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: georss-bounces at lists.eogeo.org
>> [mailto:georss-bounces at lists.eogeo.org] On Behalf Of noiv
>> Sent: August 17, 2006 11:38 AM
>> To: georss at lists.eogeo.org
>> Subject: Re: [georss] Transport of Toponyms with GeoRSS
>>
>> I'd like to add a point from the view of a user and/or application
>> designer to the discussion. Years ago coordinates have been useful for
>> geographers and machines, (only). But since interactive maps pop up
>> everyday, coordinates gets a meaning for end users as well.
>>
>> Now there are programs helping him to consult a map
>> and he easily can see where in the world a given coordinate
>> points to and how it belongs to himself.
>>
>> I would say, the coordinates in a feed have turned from a
>> data element into an action element. The procedure
>> or problem of position a map in way the given point
>> is visible at best is now solved by programs for everybody.
>>
>> The question is simple: What's the text on the button starting
>> this procedure?
>>
>> Everybody is talking about Globalization, Global Warming, etc.
>> and there is a need for a method of linking a resource, a message
>> or an event to a point on this planet in an end user friendly way
>> And there are end users at both endings of communication.
>>
>> Isn't GeoRSS the most nearest concept that
>> matches a solution to this challenge?
>>
>> If GeoRSS will not go this way, what else do you plan?
>>
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> --
>> Torsten Becker - ExploreOurPla.net
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