TripIt & Google Calendar - time zone issues
 

I sync TripIt calendar with my Google Calendar. The problem is that Google thinks the TripIt calendar is in GMT, while my actual timezone is Pacific (PST/PDT). This results in all TripIt events showing up 7 hours earlier than they should.

E.g., a flight leaving SFO at 11am shows up in Google at 4am.

I don't see any way to change the Google Calendar's specific timezone if it's an imported webcal such as TripIt, it's not an editable field.

I reported this to TripIt and they seem to be able to reproduce it, but then say it's a Google issue. They are probably right.

I reported it on Google Help Forum but no official response for several months.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue? I would think that these days TripIt and Google would be a common combination of tools, but I can't find anyone else discussing this problem anywhere. A fluke in my account? Am I mad? :)

Thanks for any help or suggestions!

What timezone is your Google calendar set to? My import from TripIt works just fine.

In Calendar Settings > General: GMT-8 (Pacific), as I want it.

In Calendar Settings > Calendars > My TripIt Cal: GMT and I cannot change it. This is the problem.

In Calendar Settings > Calendars > My regular/default Cal: GMT-8 (Pacific), as should be.

I gave up using google calendar because it doesn't understand that people move from tz to tz when they travel. Works great if you're a coder locked in an office.

Mine shows up in the correct time zone (Eastern) in Google. That is interesting.

In your TripIt account, go into Settings | Publishing Your Calendar Feed. Do you have the box checked for Automatically adjusting the time zone (second box on that page)?

Time zones and calendar apps are always a nightmare, lose-lose for developers and users.

Many who travel just want to use an online calendar like an old fashioned diary - Put a meeting at 1pm in the diary, if you intend to meet someone at one, irrespective of where you will be, as the diary come with you and it's 1pm where you are. Your flight leaves CDG at 5pm - you don't care it's really 4pm in MAN.

Some people want and need to enter stuff in local times and are happy to have the calendar shift with them - but it does take some getting used to. I guess it's a little like getting to use the 24hr clock all the time. Initially, it can be hard to equate 14:00 with 2pm, but with practice, it becomes easier.

I now try to enter all my diary stuff in local to the event time - as my phone shifts my diary when I move time zones.

Hourses for courses and not everyone will be happy.

Fix for TripIt and Google Calendar timezone issue
 

As described by TripIt:

I think that's an inconvenient way of managing timezones, but if you disable "Automatically adjust time zones" then TripIt sets all times as "floating", i.e. local time. But when imported to Google Calendar, it does not support floating timezones and assumes it is in the UTC (GMT) timezone and adjusts the times unnecessarily.

I've written a script that fixes the problem by letting you specify the timezone that your Google Calendar is set to.

https://calendar-177408.appspot.com/ics-timezone.php

Most awesome!!! Works perfectly and fixes screwed up google cal!!!

Will stop by your store next time I am in austin:D

Thanks very much!!

Thanks to Kent Wang I get this script, modify it so it could work on any server and put it as Open Source here: https://github.com/rvnikita/google_calendar_tripit_fix

Hope it will help you equally it helps me.

I've stopped running my own server and have moved this script to Google App Engine.

Please visit: https://calendar-177408.appspot.com/ics-timezone.php

I have also moved the code to my repository on GitHub.