Best way to submit location data to Google for indexing

Question

My site has a large number of local service providers and their location information.

I'm assuming this is the sort of thing Google would like to index in their Maps or Places product since I see their map widget come up in related search results.

Google Places allows you to do a bulk upload but it has a verification process designed for individual business owners where they call or mail you something.

I've looked a bit into KML or GeoRSS. Has anyone had success using these methods to get Google to index location data that appears in their maps search results?

Answer 1

At first I thought KML was the way to go, but this appears to be what I was looking for:

http://maps.google.com/help/maps/richsnippetslocal/

Answer 2

Have you reviewed the Google webmaster tools documentation for sitemaps?

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=94555

Also:

http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kmlSearch.html

These cover how to submit data for Maps, Search and Earth.