Making Use of Calendar Web Feeds

Finally a new post in this blog! Basically I just wanted to try if the iPad can be used to create blog posts conveniently. Luckily an interesting topic popped up: calendar web feeds. A few days ago I was looking for a way to automatically include all the EURO 2012 games into my google calendar. I found a very convenient solution that also made me aware of some other applications. One thing before we start: I didn't come up with all this. There is plenty of guides and blog posts out there covering this topic...I'm just compiling this info and adding some nice screenshots (btw, some (if not all) the screenshots are in German, but I'm sure they are still helpful).

So, what are some possible calendar sources:

• Google calendars: makes sense if you want to show your google meetings and appointments in another calendar application (see next list) or to include additional calendars like public holidays into your existing google calendar
  
• Facebook: you can include calendars for your contact's birthdays or your Facebook events
• All kinds of other sites that offer calendar feeds (like the one I found for the EURO 2012...more info later)

And what might be the calendar applications that can use those feeds? I'll cover the following:

• Google calendar, obviously
  
• The calendar on your iPhone or iPad
• Lotus Notes

So, how do you get the feeds addresses? In your google calendar you just click on the little arrow next to the calendar and then select 'calendar settings' (or similar). In the following window you click on the ICS button to display the calendar URL. Be aware that this only works if the privacy setting of the calendar allow this).

Google also offers some calendars you can include by clicking on 'search interesting calendars'. These includes public holidays of dozens of countries, calendars of sports events and even a calendar for your google contact's birthdays.

As mentioned before, another source is Facebook. To get the feeds for your events, go to the events page and find the 'export events' option:

To get the feed for the birthdays you first need to switch to the birthday view....where you will then find the 'export birthdays' option:

And now for everyone who kept reading until now just to find the feed for the Euro 2012 - I found it on http://www.sportycal.com

The feed address is http://www.sportYcal.com/cal/get/ctgId/2281/hash/21455/ct/any/sportycal.ics

 

The second part of this post will deal with how to insert the feeds into your personal calendar app. With google just use the 'add via URL' option:

On your iOS device go to 'Settings --> Mail, Contacts, Calendars --> Add Account... --> Other --> Add Subscribed Calendar' :

 

And now we quickly finish off with Lotus Notes: