[microformats-discuss] Re: [Geowanking] geo microformat BOF session at Where 2.0

[Dougal Campbell]

Ryan King wrote:

> I don't think we need to divide this effort at this point, for  several 
> reasons:
> 1. Most people who are interested in one, will be interested in both
> 2. They have implications for each other.
> 3. Implementors will want to implement both of them.
> 4. They're trying to solve the same problem.

I think you're right on all counts (though some implementors will be 
more interested in one aspect or the other). Depending on your point of 
view for your particular application of geolocation data, a street 
address might be considered metadata for lat/lon, or vice versa.

I think the best format is going to allow for both types of addressing, 
but only require one. Just off the top of my head, a pseudo outline 
might look something like:

   <location>
     <geo>
       <lat />
       <lon />
     </geo>
     <address>
       ...something using hCard, maybe?...
     </address>
   </location>

With a requirement that either geo or address (or both) must be present. 
Implementations that only utilize geo coordinates can simply ignore 
locations that don't include it (and vice versa). Or, they can do their 
own geocoding translations.

-- 
Dougal Campbell <dougal at gunters.org>
http://dougal.gunters.org/