diff --git a/app/models/location.rb b/app/models/location.rb
index b3896c32e..a1fb30572 100644
--- a/app/models/location.rb
+++ b/app/models/location.rb
@@ -1,12 +1,17 @@
 class Location < ActiveRecord::Base
-
-  before_validation :split_coords, :on => :create
+  before_validation :split_coords, on: :create
+  validates_presence_of :lat, :lng
 
   attr_accessor :coordinates
 
+  include Diaspora::Federated::Base
+  xml_attr :address
+  xml_attr :lat
+  xml_attr :lng
+
   belongs_to :status_message
 
   def split_coords
-    coordinates.present? ? (self.lat, self.lng = coordinates.split(',')) : false
+    self.lat, self.lng = coordinates.split(',') if coordinates.present?
   end
 end
diff --git a/app/models/status_message.rb b/app/models/status_message.rb
index c46c3e3d3..0c95ebc01 100644
--- a/app/models/status_message.rb
+++ b/app/models/status_message.rb
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ class StatusMessage < Post
   xml_name :status_message
   xml_attr :raw_message
   xml_attr :photos, :as => [Photo]
+  xml_attr :location, :as => Location
 
   has_many :photos, :dependent => :destroy, :foreign_key => :status_message_guid, :primary_key => :guid
 
diff --git a/spec/models/status_message_spec.rb b/spec/models/status_message_spec.rb
index d51a7713b..b160ae294 100644
--- a/spec/models/status_message_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/status_message_spec.rb
@@ -329,6 +329,29 @@ STR
         end
       end
     end
+
+    context 'with a location' do
+      before do
+        @message.location = Location.new(coordinates: "1, 2").tap(&:save)
+        @xml = @message.to_xml.to_s
+      end
+
+      it 'serializes the location' do
+        @xml.should include "location"
+        @xml.should include "lat"
+        @xml.should include "lng"
+      end
+
+      describe ".from_xml" do
+        before do
+          @marshalled = StatusMessage.from_xml(@xml)
+        end
+
+        it 'marshals the location' do
+          @marshalled.location.should be_present
+        end
+      end
+    end
   end
 
   describe '#after_dispatch' do