CAP feed definiton format

[Mick Jagger <lists@jpw.biz>]

Hi,
	I'm in the process of developing a CAP-aware alerting client that can access all manner of published CAP feeds.  However, despite the great work done on development of the CAP standard itself, the methods of implementation are varied - with good reason, making supporting different feeds difficult.  To account for this, I've started scratching out some ideas for a "feed definition" format that would be used to describe a CAP feed and what is needed to process it.  
	For instance, feed X is published using an ATOM index, with no message encryption, is updated only once a day, covers a specific geographic area, and only issues MET alerts.  The feed definiton file would be accessible as part of subscribing to this feed and the monitoring client would use it for configuration.  This file would also be great for indexing in a CAP feed search engine style application.  A user can search this app to find a feed for their home town, or if I'm on vacation, I can get all of the local CAP feeds on my wifi-connected laptop at the hotel.
	Briefly, here is some of the info about a CAP feed that could go into this definition file.  Distribution method and format (HTTP vs Email, ATOM vs RSS vs single file), Encryption (Encrypted vs Signed, and the current public key), Frequency (Immediate publishing vs regular interval only), Geographic area (Covers a specific county, city, state), Location codes (Specific location codes for filtering, ie EDIS zones), Authority (CAP publisher), and also allow for custom elements specific to that implementation.
	I'd like to know what the list thinks about this idea?  I'm already using an ad-hoc implementation of this, should there be a process for developing it instead? 

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