I'm assuming Google's data format, being CC, will become the de facto standard for open source work.
I find it interesting, if not ultimately suprising, that Google's format is very old school: a set of seven CSV files (http://code.google.com/transit/spec/transit_feed_specification.htm#transitFeedFiles)
Certainly, they're more likely to get buy in from massive bureacracies if they use technology like CSV that is more familiar to them.
I just can't fight the feeling that in some ways Google is setting the state of the art for information handling back (in more ways than this), except for the pragmatic fact that they tend to make progress on things better than the idealists touting new formats and practices (among whom I would normally count myself!) Then again, some of their things are more open than others.
On a slightly related note, a while back I looked more closely at OASIS xAL (extensible Address Language), which is used by Google Earth and the google geolocator API. It sure seems to be awfully tangled. As an experienced coder (but a novice geowanker), I've wondered for a long time why it has been so hard for the world to come up with a common method for structuring address data. I can't tell if this XML syntax is the answer -- "it's just hard, and addresses vary wildly when you actually compare them" or if it's just another example of an overcooked bureaucratic standard that needs to be revisited by someone who understands YAGNI.
Joe -- Joe Germuska [EMAIL PROTECTED] * http://blog.germuska.com "The truth is that we learned from João forever to be out of tune." -- Caetano Veloso _______________________________________________ Geowanking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.burri.to/mailman/listinfo/geowanking
