I’ve just tested the iCal export (from Dopplr) as an import into Microsoft Outlook on Windows. It works, at least on the latest (2007) version of Outlook, which I’m running on Windows XP inside a virtual machine on my Mac (thank you, thank you, Apple, for moving to the Intel architecture).

The full instructions are in an update to this previous posting.

If you have an earlier version of Outlook, please let us know if this works on that as well.

This also works with Evolution on Linux, and I would assume it also works with Mozilla Thunderbird on various platforms.

This week, after a dinner conversation with Stowe Boyd, I’ve been adding new features to our Atom feeds.

From your Account page, you’ll now find a link to a feed that just contains your trips (optionally with past trips included too). Why would you want this? Because the feed contains a lot of machine-readable information. Here are some ways to use it:

Put your itinerary on your blog sidebar

Most modern blog systems will take an Atom feed URL and import the entries as a sidebar on your blog:

Map it in Google Maps

Google Maps understands the GeoRSS entries in the feed. Here’s all the trips I’ve shared since Dopplr began in early 2007:

View Larger Map

Export from NetNewsWire to iCal

Just like the main Dopplr site, the new feed uses the hCalendar microformat which some feedreaders can use to import trip details into calendar software. Here’s a screenshot of NetNewsWire importing a trip into Apple iCal:

Use your Javascript, your Yahoo Pipes and your imagination

The examples above are just a few suggestions I came up with this afternoon, and I didn’t even mention the Google Data-compatible event data. With a bit of extra work, I’m sure you’ll come up with something much more interesting.

Remember that the URL for your trip feed is personal to you - it’s got a code on it that no one will be able to guess. So think carefully if you’re going to embed that URL in a public widget (like I’ve done with mine in the Google Map above). Once someone has the URL, they’ll be able to follow your trips through that feed, even if they’re not a Dopplr member. Personally I don’t mind if my trips are visible in public, but you might feel differently. Code carefully.

One of the most urgent requests we’ve had is about data-entry: We don’t want to have to enter our trip information more than once on our computers.

We’re working on making this a smooth, even seamless process across several popular calendars — and it’s dead easy on one (Mac iCal) right now, as you’ll see below, and relatively easy on Microsoft Outlook if you use Windows (and you can use basically the same technique for Evolution on Linux). We’ll also show you a somewhat more cumbersome way to connect to Google Calendar. Details:

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