GeoRSS is a simple way to include location in RSS feeds. In Dan Catt’s own words, “it’s pretty simple. This is what you get in the rss XLM:
<georss:point>37.79586 -122.395259</georss:point>“
It is, indeed, dead simple.
So when Google announced that the GeoRSS support had been added to Google Maps, rapidly followed by Microsoft a month later, the news got very positive feedback. By enabling the attachment of geodata to any media content online, Google made it possible to easily spot online content on a map.

Some of the interesting applications of GeoRSS include Outside.in: once you gave your zip code to the service, it automatically retrieves all the blog news in your geographic parameter. While the site is still building up, it holds a nice vision of a new way to receive news. Outside.in even received funds for this project. BrightKite - the location-based social network - is also good example of how to apply GeoRSS to online social behaviors.

Unfortunately, things get more complicated when it comes to monetizing a geoweb service. As Sean Gorman clearly explains in the Off The Map blog that selling ads on maps is Google-Yahoo-Microsoft’s business, and they have pretty much locked down the market.

I guess the real question becomes: if you cannot rely on the good-old advertising model, how do you integrate GeoRSS as an active component of your business model? What is the value added by GeoRSS that is psychologically important enough for money to be traded in the process? For some companies, and that is going to be the case here at Click2Map, it simply enables paying-users of a broader mapping service to create loyal ties between map publishers and location seekers.

Let’s take the example of Benny Benassi, the famous Italian DJ and user of Click2Map’s services. On his tour page, a map of all the oncoming shows allows fans to easily spot the next show in their surroundings. If you add a GeoRSS function to this map, then you enable all those fans to create a direct tie with Benny Benassi’s whereabouts. Such a service is extremely valuable for professionals whose jobs imply traveling a lot.

Nonetheless, this isn’t the only way to go with GeoRSS. My personal take on it is, maps might be an increasingly growing online media, it still isn’t a mainstream online search behavior. Any projects undertaken in the field of mapping and GeoRSS must be led with a spirit of patience, as mapping will become more prominent, but it’s not quite there yet.

Xavier

We shipped today with the release of the Build 26 a new cool feature for your maps.

Now, every map published has a GeoRSS feed associated!

A GeoRSS feed is like a normal RSS feed, the only difference is that the coordinates of the marker is also embeded in the feed.

How to use the GeoRSS feed?

When you publish a map you already get a unique URL address of the map something like:
http://generator.click2map.com/maps/[username]/[map_name].

Now you can add “/georss” at end of the URL address and you’ll get the GeoRSS feed!

People visiting or using your map can now subscribe to your map feed by clicking the classic orange icon on the map page (note that all new moderns browsers detect also automatically the feed).

Then they will use their favorite news aggregator to read the map feed. They will be automatically informed when you add a new marker on your map!

We hope that you will enjoy this feature and don’t hesitate to give us some feedback about it.