Event Reminders

[caughtatwork]

Just an idea at this stage.

Have you logged a "will attend" log for an event and then forgotten to go?
Would you like a reminder or two just prior to the event?

I'm thinking of an email on the day before and the day of an event if you have logged a "will attend" log. Then you can get a reminder the previous day to plan ahead and on the day itself just in case you forgot again, just as a simple reminder to go and attend the event.

I could also go a "reminder" log, so you can log a "will attend" and a "reminder" log so you can decide whether to get the reminder or not.

What do you think?

Good idea?
Bad idea?
2 is too many?
Just one on the previous day?
Just one on the actual day?
Screw off, I get too much email anyway?

[mtrax]

perhaps another idea would be to create a "feed" for your google calendar or a ICS file to import into your outlook or insert app-name.

I personally use the google cal. link in the GC events to add to my cal.

[Philipp]

perhaps another idea would be to create a "feed" for your google calendar

+1 I use the sms notification of google which works pretty good

[caughtatwork]

ics or vcs?
ics is V2
vcs is V1
Does it matter which one you get?
Google Calendar can be done as well.

I also want to consider those who don't use these sort of applications as well.

[pjmpjm]

Good idea.

Maybe one on the day before the event.

[rogerw3]

Not being computer minded, (OK computer challenged) I have no idea what these people are talking about!

So I think an email the day before as a reminder would be great.

[caughtatwork]

Still looking at the email reminders. Are we still thinking just the previous day or one on the day as well?

In the meantime, find a GCA event (that will be tricky, so here's one from the past).
http://geocaching.com.au/cache/ga3006

Look to the right hand navigation section.
See the new section Calendar
You can now send the event to your Google Calendar or down a vcs file which (all things being equal) should work in your scheduling programs like Outlook.

They are set for 00:00 to 00:30 on the day of the event as I have no idea what time they will actually start. Is that an OK default time or do you think 6:00am to 6:30am would be better (or worse)? Make a suggestion.

The descriptions should come out (mostly) OK in the vcs file. Swapping out the HTML and setting the right line breaks is a royal pain and makes c@w sad.
The descriptions are a simple link in Google Calendar back to the event listing as we run out of text if we stick it all in the URL.

I think they are all OK, but please let me know if something goes wonky.

[Zalgariath]

Great Idea! I like the email note as I dont use feeds... reading stuff takes too long already each day

[caughtatwork]

Argghhh! Timezones and DST. I have dates and times. Always have, always will.

The vCal and iCal files as well as the Google Calendar link all need to be in GMT. So I need to calculate an offset from the day the event occurs to the applicable GMT time.

Midnight doesn't work if you are in DST now, but the cache is listed outside your DST. More specifically if the GCA server is in DST now and not then. The trouble with DST is that not every time zone follows the same DST rules. e.g. Even though AEST is now AEDT, Queensland is not under DST. So I cannot make any assumptions about the GMT offset you have and whether you are in DST or not.

So, bugger it, I'm taking the easy way out.

Times are now 5:00am or 6:00am or 7:00am depending on whether GCA is in DST, you are in DST and the event is in DST or not. That should be before you wake up (maybe).

That should work regardless of where you are in the world and whether you are in DST or not.

The change will go up tonight.

I'm also adding an iCalendar link under the vCalendar link. I'm also adding a new HotList for Calendar Reminders. You just click the link, it adds the event to your HotList and then you get two email reminders. One the day before and one of the day.

Saves having to make a new log type.

This change will also go up tonight.

[caughtatwork]

Changes are done.
For those who like to try, non-GCA caches are not allowed

[mtrax]

I wonder if if I can request a short cut page to show events for all Australia?
I know you can drill down some where and the dashboard too, but dashboard, but it's a bit slow, perhaps a feed for all events or even better a page just for events

[caughtatwork]

I wonder if if I can request a short cut page to show events for all Australia?
I know you can drill down some where and the dashboard too, but dashboard, but it's a bit slow, perhaps a feed for all events or even better a page just for events

http://geocaching.com.au/caches/events/au/

From the navigation tab: Caches | Events

[mtrax]

Doh, thanks, can this be a good feed?

[caughtatwork]

Good feed?
Not sure what you mean.

[mtrax]

sorry I meant a ics file for ALL events, that I can overlay this as a calender on Google or thunderbird etc..