Put your Podcast on the Map!

It's all about discoverability.

There are several methods to find new podcasts:

• You may browse the weekly Top 200 in Banana Podcasts…
• You may ask your neighbours if they know any good one…

But wouldn't it be nice to be able to look for podcasts on a map?
We think so… And actually you can!

Since podcasting was invented, not many new features were introduced into the podcasting ecosystem.
That changed in Septemper 2020 when a former pirate from a Dutch free radio station in Amstelveen (yes, that's Adam Curry) and Dave Jones launched the “Podcast Index”.

What is the Podcast Index?

The Podcast Index is an independent podcast directory.
Anyone can read it, anyone can be in it, anyone can download it, no questions asked.

If you want to learn more about it you can listen to the weekly podcast to understand what it brings to podcasting: Podcasting 2.0

The Podcast Index also brought a new namespace for podcasting: The podcast namespace.

The podcast namespace

The podcast namespace is a set of features that extends the RSS specification and brings tons of new cool ideas to podcasting. Geolocation is one of them but there are many others:

• <podcast:locked>
• <podcast:transcript>
• <podcast:funding>
• <podcast:chapters>
• <podcast:soundbite>
• <podcast:person>
• <podcast:location>
• <podcast:season>
• <podcast:episode>
• <podcast:trailer>
• <podcast:license>
• <podcast:alternateEnclosure>
• <podcast:source>
• <podcast:integrity>
• <podcast:guid>

And there are even more to come:

• <podcast:liveItem>
• <podcast:recommendations>
• <podcast:medium>
• <podcast:gateway>
• <podcast:images>
• …

When (not) to use <podcast:location>?

The <podcast:location> was designed to allow better podcast discoverability. It is not made to tell where podcaster are recording from, unless of course they are talking about it.
James Cridland from Podnews has something to say about that. (Please note that we could not authenticate this message so it may very well be a Photoshop forgery…)

I don't know who you are.
I don't know what you want.
If you're looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money… but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.
If you use <podcast:location> for a location you are talking about, that will be the end of it - I will not look for you, I will not pursue you…
But if you use it to for the location where you are recording, I will look for you, I will find you... and I will kill you..

But who is using these tags?

Now that we know what the Podcast Namespase can do, it is not enough: we need podcasts hosting services and podcasts player apps to use it.
Here is a list of apps and services which do implement it. You may find an up-to-date list on NewPodcastApps.com:

As you can see, Castopod Host is one of them.
Castopod Host is a platform made for podcasters who want to engage and interact with their audience. It is:

• Free & Open-Source
• Multi-Tenant
• IABv2 audience measurement
• Federated Social Network
• it implements the following Podcast Namespace features: Comments, Locked, Funding, Transcript, Chapters, Soundbite, Location, Person…
  …

You may see a live demo on podcasts.paris:

So if you want podcasting to keep on extending and providing new features, start promoting NewPodcastApps.com today!
Stop telling your audience to “Listen to this podcast on Banana Podcasts” (or any other closed platform), but instead say “Pick an app on NewPodcastApps.com”.