The flexibility of XML allows for you to automatically create ways to represent data in a meaningful way. If there is a particular organization or structure of a group of objects or set of data you are trying to represent, you can create the appropriate elements to represent these structures. For example, we might use a <race> element to represent the race of a <person> element. Likewise, we might be storing infomation in the same file about a marathon the <person> has run in a <race> element. This situtation creates some confusion, and is where XML namespaces come in handy.
<person> <name>Bob</name> <race>Caucasian</race> <race>Boston Marathon</race> </person>
Utilizing namespaces, we can make each race have more meaning.
<person xmlns:p="http://www.xmlpronews.com/person " xmlns:r="http://www.xmlpronews.com/race "> <p:name>Bob</name> <p:race>Caucasian</race> <r:race>Boston Marathon</race> </person>
With XML Namespaces declared, a p: element represents something in the namespace described at http://www.xmlpronews.com/
