Question

I’m looking for a standard markup language to transmit addresses (locations). I really need nothing more complicated than a list of addresses with some metadata, each requiring a name, address, state, phone, email, geocoordinates, and some other metadata. I don’t want to have to parse these addresses into their constituent parts; I need them transmitted as discrete parts.

I’ve looked into both GML and KML and neither seems to fit the bill. I could get what I want done with KML, using a list of Placemarks and storing the pieces of the address in the ExtendedData as known key value pairs. However, this seems like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole since KML is so centered around display. I looked at OASIS xAL (which KML uses) as well, but it seemed overkill for what I am doing, and documentation is sparse.

Additionally, I’m hoping to find a solution that already has a .NET library built around it.

If I have to I can create my own ML simple enough, but using a standard will give me great power when pushing back on customers who want us to handle their custom Excel documents.

Thanks!

Answer 1

You didn’t mention XML.

Any reason why that won’t fit the bill? Excellent support in the standard library.