Things to make and do with Dopplr’s Atom feeds
This week, after a dinner conversation with Stowe Boyd, I’ve been adding new features to our Atom feeds.
From your Account page, you’ll now find a link to a feed that just contains your trips (optionally with past trips included too). Why would you want this? Because the feed contains a lot of machine-readable information. Here are some ways to use it:
Put your itinerary on your blog sidebar
Most modern blog systems will take an Atom feed URL and import the entries as a sidebar on your blog:
Map it in Google Maps
Google Maps understands the GeoRSS entries in the feed. Here’s all the trips I’ve shared since Dopplr began in early 2007:
Export from NetNewsWire to iCal
Just like the main Dopplr site, the new feed uses the hCalendar microformat which some feedreaders can use to import trip details into calendar software. Here’s a screenshot of NetNewsWire importing a trip into Apple iCal:
Use your Javascript, your Yahoo Pipes and your imagination
The examples above are just a few suggestions I came up with this afternoon, and I didn’t even mention the Google Data-compatible event data. With a bit of extra work, I’m sure you’ll come up with something much more interesting.
Remember that the URL for your trip feed is personal to you - it’s got a code on it that no one will be able to guess. So think carefully if you’re going to embed that URL in a public widget (like I’ve done with mine in the Google Map above). Once someone has the URL, they’ll be able to follow your trips through that feed, even if they’re not a Dopplr member. Personally I don’t mind if my trips are visible in public, but you might feel differently. Code carefully.
I was wondering if it is possible to get an iCal link for just one of my fellow travelvers? I mean i can see his tripps online but i want to import the trips also automatically into my calendar and even the RSS feed only features all my fellow travelers, or?
[…] has gained a lot of popularity and has recently shown up in some user tracking applications like Dopplr and Plazes. This means you can drop the feeds into your feed reader - or GeoRSS widget or […]
As I’m messing around in iGoogle, it occurs to me that it makes better sense to have a feature on my Dopplr page!
I want to have the weather forecasts for those days when I’m going to be in another location. Today (Wednesday), I am in Toronto. Tomorrow (Thursday), I’ll fly in New York. Saturday, I take the train to Washington, DC. Monday, I take the train back to NYC. Next Thursday, I fly back to Toronto. The following Monday, I’ll fly to Paris.
I’m currently trying to figure out how to pack: shoes if warmer, boots if snowing; umbrella or parka. Since I’ve already got my upcoming trips listed in Dopplr, it would make sense to have the associated weather forecast listed right beside the trip!
Thanks for continuing to develop Dopplr. I’m using Twitter to microblog about my location and activities every day. Doppler is a little more private to me, though, because it’s helpful for people to know which city I’m in on which day, but I don’t necessarily want any person to exactly know what I’m doing there.
[…] or the trips you have visibility to. (In fact, the Atom feeds are geocoded, so you can do some fun and interesting things with them). You don’t seem to able to subscribe to specific fiends’ feeds, […]