Can Icloud sync with google calendar and gmail?

Question

We use google calendar at my office and share it with our staff. I thought we would be able to sync those calendars with icloud and google. Before icloud, I set up an exchange account on Ipad, iphone, imac and it works well for calendar and email.  I thought I could replace that sync with icloud, but it seems to not be designed that way. Should google calendar and gmail users stick with google?

Answer 1

THANK YOU ithos! 
I have searched and searched to try and find a way to sync my Google calendars with iCloud.
You don't exactly say how to make this happen, but you gave me enough nuggets to put it together.  Thank you for responding and helping me put it all together.
I have 5 Google calendars (Family, Work, Church, Extended Family Birthdays, US Holidays).  My wife, two different assistants and I all share and update the calendars.  I want all this to continue since it affects every aspect of my life.  I sit at a PC at work and need to be able to view all those calendars during the work week, I also need to be able to view and edit from work (pc), iPhone, wife's iPhone, assistants computers, and our home (mac).  So, staying Google - for now, is what I need. 
I just upgraded to the 4S and Siri is one of the main reasons.  Without iCloud syncing with my calendars Siri is USELESS with calendaring stuff.  So, I have to have Siri able to view my calendars as well. 
So, with that info, here's how I got it all to work. 
For those of you who need a start to finish explanation, here it is:
1. Computer running the OS Lion (mine's an iMac)
2. Open iCal on the Mac
3. Open your Google Calendar
4. In iCal go to iCal --> Preferences --> Accounts. 
Make sure iCloud is listed under Accounts.  This was my default, so I didn't have to make any changes.  If yours lists something different, sorry.  I don't know how to change it.  But I believe this is a KEY component as ithos above mentions that the subscription be 'located' on iCloud.  
5. In iCal go to Calendar --> Subscribe
This will force a pop up asking you for the URL of the calendar you are trying to subscribe to. 
Where do you find this URL?    I found this article from 2006 that gives the low down:
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/04/13/howto-subscribe-to-a-google-calendar-using-ical/
Don't worry, even though it's from 2006 it still works.  Here are the steps in a nutshell, but you should read the short article so you don't miss anything.
6. In Google Calendar you need to dig into EACH calendar that you want to 'Subscribe to' and find the unique URL for that calendar.  This will allow you to then force iCal to look at and scrape the data from this calendar as often as every 5 minutes.  As you follow the articles steps (they are very easy) then your iCal calendar will populate with the Google calendar data from the calendar you subscribed to.  I had to do this for EACH calendar I wanted to show up on my iCal calendar.
7.  I then grabbed my iPhone and asked Siri, "What does my day look like tomorrow?"  She responded with all my iCal / iCloud (which are all subscribed to my Google calendars) calendar data.  I smiled
This ONLY allows the Google info to be pushed to iCal / iCloud.  It doesn't allow the info to go the other way. 
It won't let Siri manipulate the iCal/iCloud calendar or the Google calendar.  But at least Siri can see what's already there.  So, a step in the right direction. 
Good luck!