Mapping and indexing free Irish wifi nodes

Emmet Connolly has a great idea to build a Google Map of free wifi hotspots in Galway. I must do the same for Limerick. It would be great if Emmet could also use the free OPML Manager to build an outline list (or directory) of these hotspots for inclusion in the Open Irish Directory.

Comments

[Barry Cronin]

James, I'm wondering do you know if its possible is add location information in the form of longitude/latitude to OPML. It would be nice to be able to take the information out of your Open Irish Directory and place it on a map.

[James Corbett]

Barry, I'm bowled over by MapEire - this is exactly the kind of interactive map that I've been dreaming about for Ireland. Kudos!

Yes, its a simple matter to add lat/long coordinates to an OPML outline but I'm not much of a programmer and don't know exactly how you'd go about parsing them. Shouldn't be too difficult I'd imagine?

I bought a GPS unit earlier this year and launched the OpenEir (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/openeir/) project so I've definitely been thinking about adding such location info the the directory but wanted to concentrate on bootstrapping it first.

By the way, why not build your own OPML node with the info you already have and plug it into the directory? As I continually remind people there is no ownership of the distribute directory and anyone is free to build their own top-level node so it can't be controlled by a single entity.

Contribute your data and feel free to use 'ours'. Is it a deal? :-)

[Emmet Connolly]

Ok James, the Galway OPML file is at http://www.opmlmanager.com/opml/emmetc.opml.

I think it's reasonable and feasible to expect volunteers to look after their own local OPML file. Do we need to define a structure that the files need to take? For example, in my OPML file, the root node is 'Galway' and it trickles down through 'Computers & Internet' > 'WiFi hotspots' to 'Free'; will the Open Irish Directory be able to import these items directly into the relevant section? Or would my root node (that gets imported) need to be 'Free Galway WiFi Hotspots'?

BTW, great job on MapEire, Barry.

[Randy Charles Morin]

James, thanks for all the linking action. Just a note, I'm re-organizing the OPML surfer and KBCafe profiles under the r-mail.org domain. More and better stuff. I'll keep you informed.

[James Corbett]

Emmet, thanks for giving it a go! Sorry I didn't explain the necessary structure better but yes, you should omit the two higher levels and just start with a top level called 'Free Galway WiFi Hotspots'

I opened your OPML file in OPML Editor and 'chopped off' the top two levels and I've emailed you with the resultant OPML file which you should be able to import. :)

BTW, the guys behind OPML Manager are working on providing the facility to work on multiple OPML files per account, which is great.

Randy, thanks for the heads-up. I'm looking forward to the developments - keep up the great work!