This workspace takes a set of data - in this case a list of FME training courses for 2007 - and writes it to an XML file to be used as a GeoRSS feed. Such feeds can then be used as part of Web 2.0 mashups.


An RSS feed is a method to publish frequently updated digital content; a GeoRSS feed takes the concept a step further by adding a geographical location to the content.



Above: Part of the GeoRSS dataset read back into the FME Viewer (with a world map added for reference)



Above: Workspace that generates GeoRSS; not as complicated as it looks, most of the transformers are simple attribute creators.

Notes

• Date Formats: After a bit of experimenting I find that date formats are tricky to get right, and furthermore the date format varies depending on whether you are using Simple or W3C geometry. However, if you leave them blank then FME will fill them in with a correctly formatted date/time.
• ID/GUID: I'm not sure what these are supposed to represent but, again, if you leave them blank FME will fill them in with acceptable values.
• Author: For most types of RSS this appears to require an email address to be correctly validated.
• Validating Feeds: To validate the content of a feed try feedvalidator.org - it's an excellent site and has a useful user group/list.