[georss] Use GeoRSS in web feeds that provide earthquake information

[Franklin Tse]

Hi,

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) is using GeoRSS in their feeds[1]. Currently, magnitude information is contained in the georss:radius elements, which is clearly an abuse according to the specification. I have reported the issue to the webmaster of PTWC, Mr. Brian Shiro, and he replied:

"I know the <georss:radius> tag was not meant for magnitude, but it seemed the best choice from available namespaces. We are already using the <georss:featurename> tag for the name of the region where the earthquake occurred. If you have another suggestion for a possible magnitude tag, we would be interested in hearing it."

I read the specification again and again, and I think the following elements may be used.

(For the item with guid pacific.2007.03.25.010535)

<georss:point>37.3 136.5</georss:point>
<georss:elev>-50000</georss:elev>
<georss:featuretypetag>Hypocenter</georss:featuretypetag>
<georss:relationshiptag>Magnitude</georss:relationshiptag>
<georss:featurename>7.1</georss:featurename>

Is my example correct and usable?

If yes, the remaining question is, where should "NEAR WEST COAST OF HONSHU  JAPAN" be placed? Should PTWC remove that info?

Regards,
Franklin Tse

References:
1. http://www.prh.noaa.gov/ptwc/feeds/ptwc_rss_pacific.xml