[isf-wifidog] geo-coded content (classfieds)

Michael Lenczner mlenczner at gmail.com
Mer 16 Nov 11:13:32 EST 2005


So I just got off the phone with http://www.kijiji.ca/  They are owned
by Ebay and are doing free classified ads stuff in Montreal, Toronto,
Quebec, etc.

They want their content our our portals.  ;-)

I explained to them that if it is relevant to our users (ie: geocoded)
than we want it there too (or at least available from there). 
Classified ads definitely has a place in our (IleSansFil) system as
one of the types of content and one of the ways for users to interact
with other users and the local community.

They said it will be geocoded in a month or so and they currently have
an API.  So hopefully we can get both this info and Craigslist info
and tie it to portal pages somehow.  Possibly even an RSS feed for
different geographical areas.

So I made it clear that we wouldn't ask them for money in return for
putting up content in front of our users.  If it was good / relevant
content, than yes, we would love it. and if it's not geocoded, or is
somehow unsuitable, than we don't want to bother our users with it.

However, I did say that as a OSS project it might take a long time
until we get around to being able to actually include that data on the
wifidog portal.  So they seem to be open to at least discussing the
possibility of paying for some development work on Wifidog if it will
advance things more quickly - assuming that first we look at their
data and say whether we think it would be interesting for our users or
not.

So - what I need you guys to tell me is what needs to be done to
include this type of content - or maybe even on a second page (local
classifieds) that is tied to each portal page.  First thing - the
portal page UI needs to be improved - so that's one thing we could ask
for help on - even though it is underway it could always be speeded
up.  Beyond that you would have to let me know.

I don't expect many answers via this list - i actually think that i'll
get answers from the montreal wifidog developpers at the next
wednesday night meeting - but I thought that this information (and
interest from a company) would be relevant to everyone here.

mike


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