How to Geotag your stories using FeedBurner
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The buzz-worthy launch of EveryBlock by a team including web-journalist-developer-whiz Adrian Holovaty (creator of ChicagoCrime.org and other data-driven projects), has likely stirred a number of online news orgs.
Quick note on EveryBlock: It’s a constant data-driven feed of information organized by location so users can see just about anything and everything going on in their area - from Flickr updates to restaurant health code inspections. Check… check… check it out. (In fact, every newspaper should check it out, says Pat Thorton - I agree)
EveryBlock launched highlighting info streams from San Francisco, Chicago and New York. But that doesn’t mean only those metropolitan areas feature geotagged information feeds. You can do it too!
Why Geotag?
Syndicate your content with other content from your area to open up the pathway to more eyeballs! Use geotagging and web users from your area can find your photos, see where your stories relate to places on a map and find other related content produced by other people/orgs in your area. Why do it? Geotagging makes your content easier to find by people who are interested.
How to geotag your feed using FeedBurner
More online news orgs are clawing at RSS than ever before. Although most aren’t using geotagging methods. But FeedBurner makes the process rather simple.
- Find your location. There’s several ways to find your longitude / latitude. An easy method is to just find your city on weather.gov and check out the corresponding coordinates.
- Register your feed through FeedBurner! This requires no technical knowledge outside of knowing how to locate your RSS/Atom feed address.
- Set up your feed with all the bells and whistles. I recommend optimizing your feed using the Browserfriendly, Smartfeed, Feedflare and Feedimageburner options.
- Set up geotagging! Got those coordinates handy? Great! FeedBurner allows you to use the coordinates of your exact location or simply enter your zip code. Enter the info and your GEOTAGGED!
Alternate Methods
Use geotagging methods outlined by Outside.in to get your feeds syndicated in the locales people are searching.
Try an easy suggestion by Outside.in: Use zipcode tags, such as “[where: 39 Lincoln Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217]” or “[where: 11217]” in the body of the post or in the tagging area of your entry.
Outside.in also suggests using GeoRSS for the more technically sound, but I haven’t tried this out, so no advice from me.
Have you Geotagged???
Have you tried Geotagging your posts? What are the results?
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January 24th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
[…] New Media Bytes: How to Geotag your stories using FeedBurner […]
January 24th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
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January 24th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
There are also a number of plugins for popular blog engines that add geocoding using simple address or map interfaces. For example, GeoPress (http://georss.org/geopress) works on MovableType and WordPress and adds GeoRSS, KML, Microformats, Maps, and GPX output.
Another blog aggregator is Mapufacture (http://mapufacture.com) which pulls in geotagged feeds and sites and also geoparses sites that don’t have tags. You can then embed these maps, or maps from a set of feeds, into your site or blog.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:14 am
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January 25th, 2008 at 10:34 am
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January 25th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
[…] Newmediabytes: How to Geotag your stories using FeedBurner “More online news orgs are clawing at RSS than ever before. Although most aren
January 30th, 2008 at 11:02 am
York. Maar kranten kunnen ook zelf voor geotagged feeds zorgen. Via optie in GeoRSS.orf of Feedburner (voor RSS), Flickr (voor foto’s), Feedmap (voor blogs) ea. Why do it? Geotagging makes your content easier to find by people who are interested.Lees meer.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
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