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

[Franklin Tse]

Thanks for the clarifications. The "correct" use of GeoRSS is important since it ensures interoperability.

In the GeoRSS Simple Specification, http://www.georss.org/simple.html, the definitions of Feature Type, Feature Name, and Relationship Tags are unclear. I think they need to be clarified.

Thanks,
Franklin

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joshua Lieberman" <josh at oklieb.net>
To: "Franklin Tse" <peaceable_whale at hotmail.com>; <georss at lists.eogeo.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2007 23:27
Subject: Re: [georss] Use GeoRSS in web feeds that provide earthquake information

> Franklin,
> 
> Thanks for your hard work and concern about "correct" application of  
> GeoRSS. Clearly we need better explanations and many more examples of  
> various uses for these properties. The basic principle we tried to  
> follow is for georss to take care of the both fundamental and generic  
> feature properties, first a geometric representation for it, and  
> second a delineation of what sort of feature is being described.
> 
> We specifically have left out other attributes which may characterize  
> a particular feature type because this is such a wide open field. It  
> may in the future be of interest to include a fixed attribute element  
> in the style of the GML profile BXFS:
> 
> Example:
>  <georss:what>
>   <georss:featureproperty>
>        <georss:propertyname>noaa:seismicMagnitude</georss:propertyname>
>       <georss:propertyvalue>7.1</georss:propertyvalue>
>   </georss:featureproperty>
> </georss:what>
> 
> This isn't even on the roadmap yet, however, let alone part of the  
> present GeoRSS spec.
> 
> Others, such as Peter Vretanos at Cubewerx, have been encoding  
> feature properties as XHTML (e.g. tables) in the atom:content element  
> of their feeds, which makes them able to pop up nicely in many viewers.
> 
> As for the present feature tags: they are intended for describing  
> more closely the identity of the reported feature and how the  
> geometry represents it, e.g.
> 
> <georss:point>37.3 136.5</georss:point>
> <georss:elev>-50000</georss:elev>
> <georss:featuretypetag>Earthquake</georss:featuretypetag>
> <georss:relationshiptag>HypocenterOf</georss:relationshiptag>
> <georss:featurename>pacific.2007.03.25.010535</georss:featurename>
> 
> There is of course no police authority to prevent anyone from using  
> the GeoRSS tags for other purposes, but that comes with the risk that  
> only one's immediate group will understand what those purposes are,  
> and therefore the feeds will be of little interest / utility in the  
> wider world.
> 
> GeoRSS has not to this point included any other location  
> representations than geometry under its namespace. Partly this is  
> because there are already other namespaces which can cover either  
> addresses (xCal) or placenames (geonames). The GeoRSS "team" still  
> has the need to  describe and illustrate better how this should be  
> done, as well as come to a more explicit decision whether small  
> profiles of these standards should be "adopted" into a future GeoRSS  
> version.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Josh
> 
> Joshua Lieberman, Ph.D.
> Principal, Traverse Technologies Inc.
> mailto:jlieberman at traversetechnologies.com
> tel +1 (617) 395-7766
> fax: +1 (815) 717-981
> 
> 
> On Apr 4, 2007, at 10:02 AM, Franklin Tse wrote:
> 
>> 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
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> 
>