GeoRSS (geo-extended RSS feed)
Open BetaGeoRSS is an extension of RSS that adds coordinates to every feed item. Developed by a W3C working group in 2006, it became the basis for location feeds: USGS earthquakes, NOAA storm alerts, Flickr photo streams. Our exporter writes OSM features as an RSS 2.0 feed where each feature is an item with a title, description, and geometry in GeoRSS Simple encoding: points go to georss:point, lines to georss:line, polygons to georss:polygon (coordinate order is latitude then longitude). Coordinates are in WGS84. Multiple layers are packed into a ZIP, one XML feed per layer. Honestly: the format suits dozens to hundreds of features and subscription/viewing in Google Earth, but ordinary RSS readers ignore the geo coordinates, and for a whole city GeoJSON is the better choice.
Key Features
About GeoRSS Format
RSS is an old and still very much alive way to subscribe to updates: a program periodically fetches the feed and shows what is new. GeoRSS adds coordinates to the feed's items, and the feed turns into a stream of events on a map. That is how the USGS earthquake feeds and the NOAA storm warnings work.
Export to GeoRSS is chosen when a set of features is meant not so much for analysis as for distribution: showing points on a website, handing them to subscribers, opening them in Google Earth. It is the simplest way to give out geodata through a familiar web mechanism.
The file is an RSS 2.0 feed in which every feature is an item with a title and a description, and the geometry is written in the GeoRSS Simple encoding: georss:point, georss:line, georss:polygon. The coordinate order there is "latitude first, then longitude" — the reverse of what GeoJSON accustoms you to; the coordinate system is WGS84. Several layers are packed into a ZIP, one feed per layer.
The size limit is dictated by common sense: an XML feed with tens of thousands of items becomes unmanageable. GeoRSS is good for dozens and hundreds of features; for a whole city take GeoJSON.
What Program Opens GeoRSS Files
The following programs and applications can open, edit, and work with GeoRSS (geo-extended RSS feed) (.xml) files exported from OSM2CDR:
Format specifications
- Open standard
- 2D only
- Lossless (no quality loss)
- Stores feature attributes
- Output: 1 file
- An RSS 2.0 feed with GeoRSS Simple geometry (point/line/polygon, lat-then-lon) in WGS84; multiple layers become a ZIP of one XML feed per layer.
Who Uses GeoRSS Maps
How to Export GeoRSS
How to Open After Export
- Google Earth Pro (free) — File → Open, choose the .xml: the features land on the globe, and the feed can be saved into "My Places".
- Leaflet — the leaflet-georss plugin attaches the feed as a layer on your map; for lines and polygons, check that the plugin supports the geometry type you need.
- OpenLayers — GeoRSS is read out of the box: the feed is attached as a vector layer source.
- QGIS — the file opens through GDAL; if there are several layers, unpack the ZIP first.
- Publishing — put the .xml on your site with the content type application/rss+xml: such a feed can be subscribed to and embedded in a page.
Popular maps in GeoRSS
Get GeoRSS (geo-extended RSS feed) map exports
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