Real-world examples to illustrate the Standard-Sitemap XML file format.

Small web site with one hierarchical level, one language: barbrastreisand.com

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<sitemap baseurl="http://www.barbrastreisand.com/" lang="en" type="text/html" charset="iso-8859-1"
         xmlns="http://www.standard-sitemap.org/version1beta/">
  <image url="templates/default/images/LOGO_top.gif" type="image/gif" width="279" height="53" />
                           <!-- Maximum dimensions for our Firefox extension: 200x200 pixels -->
  <style url="templates/default/style-for-sitemap.css" type="text/css"
         replaces="templates/default/style.css" />
  <item name="Home" url="index.php"> <!-- URL can be omitted, because it's equivalent to BaseURL -->
  <!-- 'lang', 'type' & 'charset' are inherited from <sitemap> -->
  <!-- A 'description' attribute for each <item> would be nice -->
    <item name="Biography"    url="index.php?page=bio" /> <!-- BaseURL is prefixed here -->
    <item name="Tour"         url="index.php?page=tourdates" />
    <item name="Music"        url="index.php?page=music" />
    <item name="Film"         url="index.php?page=film" />
    <item name="Television"   url="index.php?page=tv" />
    <item name="News"         url="index.php?page=news" />
    <item name="Gallery"      url="index.php?page=photos&amp;ga=13" />
    <item name="Statements"   url="index.php?page=statements" />
    <item name="Truth Alerts" url="index.php?page=truths" />
    <item name="Links"        url="index.php?page=links" />
    <item name="Shop"
          url="http://barbrabtreisand.fanfire.com/artistName=Barbra+Streisand&amp;sourceCode=BSTWEB" />
               <!-- Full URL necessary, because not compatible with BaseURL -->
    <item name="Auction"
          url="http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZstreisandQ2dstarwares" />
    <!-- The two links at the bottom can be included as 'role's right away: -->
    <item role="contentinfo"    name="Copyright &amp; Terms of Use" url="index.php?page=terms" />
    <item role="contact" name="Contact"                      url="index.php?page=contact" />
  </item> <!-- end tag for home page -->
</sitemap>

Web site with three language versions and grouped buttons: rogerfederer.com

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<sitemap baseurl="http://www.rogerfederer.com/" type="text/html" charset="UTF-8"
         xmlns="http://www.standard-sitemap.org/version1beta/">
  <image ... />
  <style ... />
  <item>
    <variant name="Home"    description="Roger Federer - Homepage" lang="en" url="en/" />
    <variant name="Home"    description="Roger Federer - Homepage" lang="de" url="de/" />
    <variant name="Accueil" description="Roger Federer - Homepage" lang="fr" url="fr/" />
    <!-- end of home page's <variant>'s, start of subordinate pages -->
    <group>
      <!-- variants of the <group>'s name (necessary, because different in the three languages): -->
      <variant name="Roger's" lang="en" />
      <variant name="Roger's" lang="de" />
      <variant name="Roger"   lang="fr" />
      <item>
        <variant name="News"       lang="en" url="en/rogers/news/index.cfm" />
        <variant name="News"       lang="de" url="de/rogers/news/index.cfm" />
        <variant name="Actualités" lang="fr" url="fr/rogers/news/index.cfm" />
      </item>
      <item>
        <variant name="Results"   lang="en" url="en/rogers/results/index.cfm" />
        <variant name="Resultate" lang="de" url="de/rogers/results/index.cfm" />
        <variant name="Résultats" lang="fr" url="fr/rogers/results/index.cfm" />
      </item>
      <!-- Another 7 <item>'s omitted here -->
    </group>
    <group>
      <variant name="Fan Zone"      lang="en" />
      <variant name="Fan Zone"      lang="de" />
      <variant name="Zone des fans" lang="fr" />
      <!-- 8 <item>'s omitted here -->
    </group>
    <group>
      <variant name="Media Corner" lang="en" />
      <variant name="Media Corner" lang="de" />
      <variant name="Zone medias"  lang="fr" />
      <!-- 3 <item>'s omitted here -->
    </group>
    <!-- 'Home' is omitted, because it has already been declared in the very first <item> -->
    <item role="contact">
      <variant name="Contact" lang="en" url="en/contact/index.cfm" />
      <variant name="Kontakt" lang="de" url="de/contact/index.cfm" />
      <variant name="Contact" lang="fr" url="fr/contact/index.cfm" />
    </item>
    <item role="info">
      <variant name="Terms of Use and Disclaimer"                 lang="en" ... />
      <variant name="Terms of Use and Disclaimer"                 lang="de" ... />
      <variant name="Conditions d'utilisation et confidentialité" lang="fr" ... />
    </item>
  </item> <!-- end tag for home page -->
</sitemap>

Web site with multiple pages on first hierarchical level (i.e. no home page): google.com (only first hierarchical level shown): 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<sitemap baseurl="http://www.google.com/" lang="en" type="text/html" charset="UTF-8"
         xmlns="http://www.standard-sitemap.org/version1beta/">
  <image ... />
  <style ... />
  <!-- The following 7 <item>'s are considered to be the main navigation. -->
  <!-- The home page is obviously identical to the first <item> here ("Web").
       Logically, this <item> is not superior to the other 6 <item>'s.
       Therefore the other 6 are not nested subordinately under "Web".
       In our sense, Google does not have a home page :-) -->
  <item name="Web"    url="webhp?tab=iw" />
  <item name="Images" url="http://images.google.com/imghp?tab=wi&amp;hl=en" />
  <item name="Video"  url="http://video.google.com/?tab=iv" />
  <item name="News"   url="http://news.google.com/nwshp?tab=vn" />
  <item name="Maps"   url="http://maps.google.com/maps?tab=vl" />
  <item name="Gmail"  url="http://mail.google.com/mail?tab=vm" />
  <item name="more"   url="intl/en/options/" />
  <group name="Personal Tools"> <!-- all <group> names are made up -->
    <item name="iGoogle" url="ig" />
    <item name="Sign in"
          url="https://www.google.com/accounts/Login?continue=http://www.google.com/&amp;hl=en" />
  </group>
  <group name="Search Options"> <!-- questionable if these should be in the sitemap at all,
                                     or rather remain accessible from within the page only -->
    <item name="Advanced Search" url="advanced_search?hl=en" />
    <item name="Preferences"     url="preferences?hl=en" />
    <item name="Language Tools"  url="language_tools?hl=en" />
  </group>
  <group name="The Company">
    <item name="Advertising Programs" url="intl/en/ads/" />
    <item name="Business Solutions"   url="services/" />
    <item name="About Google"         url="intl/en/about.html" />
   </group>
</sitemap>