Techniques are disclosed for scheduling meetings by exploiting information
of the type used with electronic calendars. By leveraging advanced
calendaring system information and using location, other context
information such as corporate policy, legal constraints, and technology
constraints, and/or user-specific preferences to provide a complete
picture of a person's availability, the functionality (and therefore the
value) of scheduling systems in increased, resulting in an ability to
schedule meetings with more accuracy and less rework. Various allowable
participation types for meeting invitees may be specified, and each
invitee's availability is determined accordingly. Location-sensitive
travel times (including optional user-specific travel time adjustments)
are used in preferred embodiments when in-person participation is
required.