SF ENVIRONMENT ECOFINDER XML DOCUMENTATION

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The EcoFinder at SFenviroment.org consists of three files that are built nightly if EcoFinder data has changed (file schemata follow below):

http://www.sfenvironment.org/ecofinder/ecofinder.xml
http://www.sfenvironment.org/ecofinder/ecofinder-companies.xml
http://www.sfenvironment.org/ecofinder/ecofinder-categories.xml

There is a timestamp file that indicates the last time the EcoFinder data has changed (YYYYMMDDHHMMSS format):

http://www.sfenvironment.org/ecofinder/ecofinder-timestamp.txt


IMPORTANT NOTES:

>> Versions
A version number on all XML requests in STRONGLY recommended. Requests that do not include a version number will default to the newest version of the file, whatever that may be. Version requests should be in the following format:

http://www.sfenvironment.org/ecofinder/ecofinder.xml?version=1.0

Currently there is only one version of the EcoFinder XML feed, Version 1.0, but we reserve the right to release a new version at any time. Sign up for our mailing list below to be informed of any upcoming changes. 

>> HTML
HTML tags are allowed in some elements but occur primarily in the following elements: <FPU>,<DOC>,<PUC>,<FDO>,<REC>,<REU>. When HTML tags do appear, they are coded in hexadecimal.  


CONTACT & CREDITS:

To stay informed about changes to the EcoFinder XML feed, please subscribe to our mailing list here:

http://sfenvironment.org/mailman/listinfo/ecofinder-xml_sfenvironment.org

For more information about the SF Environment EcoFinder, or if you have questions about these XML files or the data contained therein, please contact:

Lawrence Grodeska
Internet Communications Coordinator
lawrence.grodeska@sfgov.org

The original web-only version of the EcoFinder can be found here:

http://www.sfenvironment.org/ecofinder

The EcoFinder XML files were coded by:

Sean Trunk
Techprovider
sean@techprovider.com 

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ECOFINDER.XML
The main list of companies and the recycling or collection services that they offer.

<recycler>
-
<ID> Unique ID for each company
<Latitude> FYI, these fields are not entirely accurate.  For best location mapping use physical address and geocode.
<Longitude> FYI, these fields are not entirely accurate.  For best location mapping use physical address and geocode.
<Company>
<Address> Physical Address
<MailAddress> Concatenated Mailing Address
<County> Physical Address
<State> Physical Address
<City> Physical Address
<ZIP> Physical Address
<Location_Notes> Additional notes about their location
<Hours>
<Phone>
<Fax>
<Email>
<URL>
<Comment> Additional comments about the company or their service
<Limits> Indicates if there is any limit on the amount of material that can be accepted
<UpdatePrivate> This denotes the last time a change was made to a record and is what should be used as a timestamp (despite being counter-intuitive).  
<UpdatePublic> This is for internal use by SF Environment staff during our biannual update process and DOES NOT reflect the last time a change was made to a record.
--
<Item> Material type that is handled by this company; there is at least one and often many nested elements here.
<SubCategory>
<Category>
<SubCategoryID>
<CategoryID>
 [The following elements describe particulars of the types of service that are provided by a company for each material type (subcategories).]
<FPU>	Free Pick-Up
<DOC>	Drop-Off for a Charge
<PUC>	Pick-Up for a Charge
<FDO>	Free Drop-Off
 [There are also two additional related elements that are only used for the Construction & Demolition subcategories. C&D is a very specific audience so these two elements are not used in Ecofinder searches and can be ignored.]
<REC>
<REU>
<Use>
---
<Customer_Served> The customer type for this specific service - residential or commercial
<Services> The service being described (FPU,DOC,PUC,FDO,REC,REU) for this company and material type
<Notes> Notes specific to this service
---
--
-
</recycler>

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ECOFINDER-COMPANIES.XML
xml file of recyclers in the SFEnvironment.org system. A courtesy for people who want to grab an xml file of recyclers and/or recyclables.

<recycler>
-
<ID> Unique ID for each company
<Latitude> FYI, these fields are not entirely accurate.  For best location mapping use physical address and geocode.
<Longitude> FYI, these fields are not entirely accurate.  For best location mapping use physical address and geocode.
<Company>
<Address> Physical Address
<MailAddress> Concatenated Mailing Address
<County> Physical Address
<State> Physical Address
<City> Physical Address
<ZIP> Physical Address
<Location_Notes> Additional notes about their location
<Hours>
<Phone>
<Fax>
<Email>
<URL>
<Comment> Additional comments about the company or their service
<Limits> Indicates if there is any limit on the amount of material that can be accepted
<UpdatePrivate> This denotes the last time a change was made to a record and is what should be used as a timestamp
<UpdatePublic> This is for internal use by SF Environment staff during our biannual update process.

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ECOFINDER-CATEGORIES.XML
xml file of recycling item categories/subcategories in the SF Environment material type schema.

<category>
-
<CategoryName>
<CategoryID>
<SubCategory>
--
<SubCategoryName>
<SubCategoryID>
--