1. ICS— these feeds adhere to the iCalendar standard. ICS includes feeds from, but not limited to, iCal, Outlook, Exchange, Google Calendar, Presence, SideArm, Trumba, OrgSync, CollegiateLink, 25Live, and Campus Labs.
2. RSS— these feeds adhere to the hCalendar standard. Since RSS is inherently unstructured in terms of event dates, descriptions, etc., Localist needs specific tags to be able to successfully import. RSS includes feeds from, but not limited to, ActiveData.
3. CSV—;these feeds are CSV (.csv) or Excel (.xls) files hosted on your servers as a feed. The file must adhere to the same CSV format used for bulk uploading. CSV feeds also include, but are not limited to, Google Drive Sheets.
4. Eventbrite— Localist will connect directly to Eventbrite through your admin dashboard for set up.
5. EMS— events are imported through the EMS API.
6. SeatGeek— events are imported through the SeatGeek API.
7. Cvent— events are imported through the Cvent API.
8. SimpleView— events are imported through the SimpleView API.

Data Comparison

Feed Statuses:After each import, the feed overview page will note the following details:

• Status (complete, etc.)
• Date and time of import
• Number of events imported
• Number of pending events
• Number of rejected events

If an event has been rejected, there will be a link to see the exact errors per event.

Adding a Feed

1. In the Admin Dashboard, navigate to Events > Feeds
2. On this page you will see all live feeds. To create a new feed, select +Add Feed in the top right corner.
3. Enter a Name and the URL for the Feed
4. The Name should be a general description easily recognizable by other admins.

Apply Additional Settings

• • Skip Pending Queue: Events will go live directly to the platform at each import

  • Overwrite Schedule: If the date changes at the source, it will replace the current schedule in Localist.

    • If checked:  Event A on Oct 1 is imported —> Upon next import Event A is now listed for Oct 2 and Oct 1 is no longer present in the feed —> The live event in Localist is updated from Oct 1 to Oct 2

    • If not checked:  Event A on Oct 1 is imported —> Upon next import Event A is now listed for Oct 2 and Oct 1 is no longer present in the feed —> The live event in Localist is updated to now have two instances – both Oct 1 and Oct 2. Essentially, this functionality is only applied to instances of events that are still in the feed. If an entire event is remove from the feed then Localist will not make any updates or deletions and the event will stay in the last-imported state unless manually modified.

  • Don’t Update Filters:If checked, Content Overrides will only be applied upon the event’s first import. This means that you can apply a general override to the entire feed then apply specific filters on an individual basis without the Content Override replacing the specific filters after the next import.

• Apply Content Overrides (optional) - These will be applied to every event in the feed.

• Include authentication details - If your feed requires an authenticated user to access it, enter the Username and Password

• Save Changes

Upon saving, the feed will initially import once. After the initial import, the feed will import once a day overnight. This time cannot be changed and updates will not be reflected in Localist until the nightly import.

Important Feed Import Details

Feed Data Takes Precedent
1. Data imported by a feed into Localist will always take precedent over data that has been added or updated in the Localist event. Only the following 3 details can be locked and cut off from further feed updating (admins will still be able to manually update these fields and their updates will continue to remain locked):

• Name
• Description
• Event Place

2. All other details that are brought in via a feed must be changed at the feed source. If it is changed in any way in Localist then the changes will only stick until the next feed import, at which time it will revert back to the data in the feed.

• Exception:  If a piece of data is not provided by the feed then any changes or additions in Localist will stick even after the next import. For example, if the feed only provides name/date/time/description/place then anything else, such as a tag or custom field, will remain as updated in Localist.

3. If fields in a feed match fields in Localist then the data must match exactly to what is saved in Localist. It is not possible to assign aliases or alternative spellings. For example, place names must match the place landing pages and filters must match your platform’s existing classification scheme in order to connect properly.

Deleting a Feed Event

1. Deleted in Localist:  If an event has been imported to the calendar then deleted, it will reappear if it is sent back over through the feed. Since feed data takes precedent, if the event is present in the feed then it will be re-added to Localist.

• Exception:  If an event is rejected from the pending queue then it will not re-appear. If the event is deleted while still in the pending queue then it will be re-imported into the queue.

2. Deleted at the feed source:  If an event is removed from the feed source, the event in Localist will not be removed. This is because it is impossible for Localist to determine whether the event has been deleted/cancelled or if the event is just not present in the feed. In this case you will need to delete the instance in the feed and in Localist.

Creating Custom CSV Feeds

If you have the technical know-how, you can create aCustom CSV Feed to ensure the most amount of event data is imported into Localist. To get started, use our Bulk-Add documentation for insight on which headers to use, and how to format them.

While the Localist team are not experts on building feeds, here is what we can assist with vs what your internal team will need to troubleshoot should you hit any snags:

Assistance from Localist

• Headers: We can provide the headers necessary for the CSV file to use
• Data Formatting: We’re able to provide insight on how to format data (i.e. how to format the date)
• Content Overrides: We can provide insight on how to apply Content Overrides to the Feed on import
• Error Messages: If you’re getting errors in Localist, we can assist with troubleshooting

Resolved by Customer Team

• Building Feeds: Your team will need to work internally on how to build the feed, and the code necessary to accomplish it
• Hosting: Your team is responsible for hosting the feed at a permanent URL for importing into Localist
• Non-Imported Data: If an event or specific details aren’t present in the imported Feed, your team will need to investigate at the Feed’s source and/or review how data is set up to be imported in the Feed.
• Duplicates and Updates: If duplicates are imported, or an event did not properly update, you’ll need to investigate at the Feed’s source.**

**Note: There are some instances where Localist can provide confirmation on what’s happening if duplicates are created, or why events did not update in the overnight import. If you provide the name or URL to events in question, we’re happy to help look into it. That said, we cannot suggest specific changes that should be made to the Feed to correct this.