230 likes | 242 Views
EPAC06 Schedule Builder Proposal. Hywel Owen. Motivation: We would like to give delegates a way to organise their conference schedule Also provide reminders for each delegate? Should include: Title/abstract Time Location. Previous ways of doing it: Paper (abstract book)
E N D
EPAC06 Schedule Builder Proposal Hywel Owen
Motivation: We would like to give delegates a way to organise their conference schedule Also provide reminders for each delegate? Should include: Title/abstract Time Location Previous ways of doing it: Paper (abstract book) Paper – ‘My Schedule’ (PAC 2005) iSilo (EPAC 2004) Delegate Schedule Requirements
iSilo – used at EPAC’04 • iSilo is a cross-platform Freeware application • Geared to document storage • ‘Like PDF only smaller’ • Palm, PocketPC, Windows Mobile, Symbian etc. • Similar in functionality to PDF • Requires a download to the device • (but so does PDF) • I found it difficult to use at EPAC’04 on Windows Mobile • Too much information?
We desire: Simple system Automatically driven from the conference data Standards-based if possible Free if possible Cross-platform Does not require much work by the delegate No installations Proposal: Use ‘My Schedule’ to build data for each delegate Export to PDF Export to iCal format File download Calendar subscription Works on all common platforms Scheduling at EPAC06
Extensions to My Schedule Functionality • At present, My Schedule lets you summarise a day at a time, or output the whole conference • To Screen • To PDF (via print) • Extend to include: • Data output • iCal files • Subscribable iCal URLs? (dynamically – perhaps a duplicate problem here) • Different searches
My Schedule Search Ideas • Full download of complete programme • Daily downloads – Mon, Tue…. • Field searches, e.g. • All orals • By classification, author etc. (fields) • And/Or keyword searches, e.g. ‘FEL’ & ‘DESY’ • Combinations of the above! • ‘My Schedule Suggest’ • Take keywords from delegate’s contributions, and suggest papers which match them – rank in order of most matched keywords • Choose top 10, top 20, top 100 etc. • Implementability?
iCal – RFC2445 • http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2445.txt • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICalendar • Is more or less a standard for Calendar/Events booking • Defines Events, Actions (To Do’s), Journals Items, and Free/Busy information • (related to vCal) – used more or less interchangeably • Sample Calendaring and Scheduling Core Object: BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//hacksw/handcal//NONSGML v1.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:19970714T170000Z DTEND:19970715T035959Z SUMMARY:Bastille Day Party END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR
Breaking Down a Simple Event Date Time BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//hacksw/handcal//NONSGML v1.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART:19970714T170000Z DTEND:19970715T035959Z SUMMARY:Bastille Day Party END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR UTC Indicator Tutorial http://developer.apple.com/internet/appleapplications/icalendarfiles.html
A More Complicated Example BEGIN:VCALENDAR CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//Apple Computer\, Inc//iCal 2.0//EN VERSION:2.0 BEGIN:VEVENT LOCATION:San Francisco DTSTAMP:20050618T151130Z UID:BDF17182-CA21-4752-8D4F-40A4FE47C90D SEQUENCE:8 URL;VALUE=URI:http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/ DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20050606 SUMMARY:Apple WWDC DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20050612 DESCRIPTION:Lots of sessions. END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DURATION:PT1H LOCATION:Home DTSTAMP:20050618T151543Z UID:5F88A0EC-AD21-428E-AAAD-005F1B1AB72E SEQUENCE:6 DTSTART;TZID=America/Chicago:20050615T180000 SUMMARY:Set up File Server DESCRIPTION:Music server for the kids. END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR Can add links even! iCalendar ref is like reading stereo instructions Type/Title Abstract Goes Here!
Windows (XP etc.) Outlook (native/plugin) Mozilla Calendar Sunbird/(+Portable) Thunderbird/Lightning Lotus Notes Novell/Ximian Evolution Mac OSX etc. iCal (native) Mozilla Calendar Sunbird Thunderbird/Lightning Linux Mozilla Calendar Sunbird Thunderbird/Lightning KOrganizer Non-OS: iCalShare InDiCo !! Plone (EPAC website) Toolsets for programmers in: Java PHP Python Used by a LOT of Software – Cross-Platform
Method 1: File-Based .ics Choose ‘My Schedule’ Save To File Synchronise Method 2: Subscription webcal:// Choose ‘My Schedule’ Generate File/URL Subscribe in Scheduler Synchronise Method 3: Through the Web webcal:// View on WWW/ Subscribe/Download as above Complete Schedule Data Publish to iCalShare Hot to Get Data Onto Your Device (In Theory!) Put in Scheduler (e.g. Outlook) A bit like .rss
InDiCo .ics Files – but only for whole event (not individual) Click Here!
Windows: RemoteCalendars • http://remotecalendars.sourceforge.net/ • Works great – except have to replace webcal:// with http:// • Same file location (on web), but just different URL start – seems not to care! • A bit of a pain with other calendars – have to remember to edit the link when subscribing • Manual updates
iCalShare – www.icalshare.com • A central (public) location for shared calendars • Can’t think of a reason NOT to publicise here (other than inviting spam etc.) • But can publish on our own server – SPMS, website etc.
Want to be really geeky? • Can use hCalendar format to publish calendar information in xHTML • http://microformats.org/wiki/hcalendar • Can then use GreaseMonkey script to automatically convert published data on webpage to link to .ics files…. • For serious geeks only!!!
Proposal for EPAC06 • Develop My Schedule to add additional search methods • Retain Schedule -> Screen and Schedule -> PDF • Add generation of .ics files • Download to file • Publish to website (static/dynamic?)
Motivation Help delegates find their way to the hotel Maps are not exciting enough!! Use GPS! Method: Find postcodes for hotels (EPAC06 list) Convert to WGS84 coords (GPS lat./long.) Now For a Bit of Fun – Finding Your Way to EPAC
Coordinate Systems • WGS84 is the standard lat./long. System used by commercial GPS. • The format is very simple, e.g. • -3.207616,55.947072 is the Sheraton Hotel in Edinburgh • Depending on the GPS, you can enter this code and use it with maps • Basic navigation (you are 1km away and need to go north) • Navigation software for drivers
Getting the Hotel Coordinates • UK Postcode is accurate to ~5 buildings / 20m • www.streetmap.co.uk does coord conversions in the UK lookup convert EH3 9SR Or directly using http://www.streetmap.co.uk/streetmap.dll?GridConvert?name=EH3%209SR&type=PostCode (could write script in principle, but done manually here for 14 EPAC hotels)
GPS Unit Upload • Depends on unit; I know about • Garmin (particular .csv) • TomTom (.ov2) • POIs – Points of Interest • Used Freeware to do conversions • (Garo’s POI Edit) • Delegate uploads files using their unit uploader software • Can also make available Speed Camera data for those with car navigation software GARMIN POI File