[Design] A calendar that tracks people and locations

Thu Jun 1 18:13:04 PDT 2006

Hi Grant,

I'm guessing it's a bit late for Chandler 1.0 as well, the calendar
betas are online, etc.

I mainly just wanted to float the idea so it might make it into a future
version. I've been mulling over the idea for about a year or so and I
wanted to get it out there somewhere. This list seemed like as good a
place as any.

I might do some work on the details if I find the time (probably
unlikely!) and I'll forward anything I come up with. At the most simple
level, it seems like such a logical thing, your calendar should know
where you'll be, but the devil is always in the details!

Cheers,

Callum.

On Thu, 2006-06-01 at 13:35 -0700, Grant Baillie wrote:

> On Jun 1, 2006, at 5:18, Callum Macdonald wrote:
> 
> > Nobody has anything to say about my ingenious brainwave that's  
> > going to change the world? :)
> 
> Hi, Callum
> 
> Sorry for the delay, and welcome to the list :). These are cool  
> ideas, especially for users who travel a lot: IMHO it wouldn't  
> interfere with users being  able to build up a mental picture of  
> their schedule, but would help avoid unfortunate scheduling errors.
> 
>  From an engineering perspective, Chandler's model (and UI) for  
> location is still pretty rudimentary: in the long run, it's easy to  
> imagine that being beefed up, and having the app suck down web 2.0  
> data for those "transit appointments" (airline & public transit  
> schedules, maps & driving directions, etc). The devil, of course,  
> would be in the details the application logic of integrating all that  
> data. Even in simple cases (like, calling in to a meeting scheduled  
> in a shared calendar as being in a different time zone), it's non- 
> trivial to make the location inference correctly.
> 
> While people here have thought about some aspects of your "ingenious  
> brainwave" :) (e.g. events with start & end times in different  
> timezones, which are supported by some clients, like Lotus Notes), I  
> don't know of anyone having looked in depth at a location-savvy  
> calendar. I also don't think that we (OSAF) could undertake to do  
> this in the Chandler 1.0 timeframe: We're more focused on different  
> devilish details: dealing with sharing and scheduling in small  
> workgroups. However, it would be a great opportunity for a third- 
> party parcel (plugin) writer.
> 
> --Grant
> 
> > On Fri, 2006-05-26 at 12:27 +0700, Callum Macdonald wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Guys,
> >>
> >> New on the list, I've done a quick search and I don't see anything on
> >> this thread, so thought I'd start it off.
> >>
> >> I have this idea that my calendar should be smarter. Specifically, I
> >> think it should be aware that my appointments are in *locations*.  
> >> That I
> >> need to physically move from one location to another, spending  
> >> time in
> >> *transit*. Those locations might be in different *time zones*.
> >>
> >> In terms of comparing my availability with others, our locations  
> >> should
> >> be taken into account. If I'm in Bangkok and I'm scheduling a meeting
> >> with someone in New York, I can't squeeze them in for lunch  
> >> between my
> >> bank manager in the morning and my daughter from school in the
> >> afternoon.
> >>
> >> For example, I schedule an appointment with a client. My calendar  
> >> knows
> >> my default location is in Bangkok between 9 and 5. I schedule the
> >> appointment for 9am, so my calendar prompts a 30 minute transit time
> >> before the meeting from my home location to my appointment and  
> >> then a 30
> >> minute transit time from my appointment to my office location.
> >>
> >> After a few hours in the office, I'm flying to Europe for a  
> >> meeting the
> >> following day. I enter my flight as a transit appointment, and add a
> >> timezone change of -6 hours into the GMT+1 timezone. While I'm at  
> >> it, I
> >> enter my return flight as a transit appointment and return to my  
> >> normal
> >> time zone.
> >>
> >> I set up a few appointments in Europe and enter those. My calendar
> >> automatically prompts me to enter them in local time and visually  
> >> shows
> >> the appointments in local time on my daily calendar. It shows my  
> >> transit
> >> time as a squashed / expanded transit appointment as I move  
> >> timezones.
> >> It also shows me my appointments in my home timezone time alongside
> >> their local times. Just so I know what time my body will think it is!
> >>
> >> My availability is publicly available through my calendar  
> >> published on
> >> my web site / server. My calendar doesn't show my appointments, but
> >> based on my rules, it shows my availability and if I've set the  
> >> transit
> >> appointment to be public, it shows my location on a given day.
> >>
> >> Thus my colleagues in Europe can check my schedule and suggest
> >> appointments at times when they know I'll physically be in the  
> >> region.
> >>
> >> I see this as a natural development from the basic calendaring
> >> functionality that has existed for years.
> >>
> >> Before I get carried away, is this already in the design plan for
> >> Chandler? Has it been considered and thrown out for a very good  
> >> reason I
> >> haven't thought about? Am I going stark raving mad, would this be  
> >> about
> >> as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike?
> >>
> >> Any and all comments would be gratefully received.
> >>
> >> Kind regards,
> >>
> >>
> >> Callum.
> >>
> >> Blog: http://www.callum-macdonald.com/
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
> >>
> >> Open Source Applications Foundation "Design" mailing list
> >> http://lists.osafoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/design
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