[georss] Georss extension

[Andrew Turner]

On 9/23/06, Marc <marc at geonames.org> wrote:
> The point I am trying to make is : 'How does Joe Average Programmer know
> this?' Don't we need a simple and bulletproof specification
> understandable also for non gis-specialists?
> Maybe we can agree on a subset of xAL, a kind of "Simple xAL". The xAL
> specification clearly says : "Important: Use only elements and
> attributes that make sense to you. Ignore the rest that are needless for
> you. "

I agree that this is the issue at hand (as well as the question if xAL
supports non-inhabited areas like the ocean). Like georss:point vs.
GML, a simple format makes the entire idea digestable to the large
community that will actually implement the spec in publishing and
consuming. Making something *full featured*, but difficult to use
makes it very difficult for adoption.

I think we talked about a simplified xAL - similar to your geonames
namespace perhaps? - at FOSS4G.

There are issues with your proposed geonames however. You still suffer
from the country code problem. Pat's example used BR, where did that
come from? Also, the countryName, is that assumed to be the English
country name?

So how to have a simplified format, for easy adoption/understanding,
and allow easy 'growth' into xAL for complex naming?

Andrew