time zone
Let an agent convert times between zones correctly, explain time zone rules and daylight saving, identify the time zone of a place, and handle scheduling across zones.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Convert Time conversion.
Between
Converting times.
Between
Conversion.
- What is this time in the target time zone, using IANA identifiers and the date? measurement
- Does daylight saving apply on that date in either zone? boundary
Place
Zone of a place.
Place
Zone of a place.
- Which time zone and current offset does this place use? provenance
- Does the country have multiple zones? provenance
Rules Daylight saving and changes.
DST
Daylight saving.
DST
Daylight saving.
- When do clocks change in this zone this year, according to official rules? provenance
- Which countries have abolished or debated daylight saving? provenance
Changes
Rule changes.
Changes
Rule changes.
- Has this zone changed its rules recently, and is the software database updated? provenance
- How are historical times computed? action
Schedule Cross-zone scheduling.
Meetings
Meeting times.
Meetings
Meetings.
- What time suits participants across these zones? measurement
- How should the time be stated unambiguously? action
Systems
Software handling.
Systems
Software.
- How should times be stored and displayed in software to avoid zone errors? action
- Which libraries use the IANA database? provenance
Learn Background.
History
Origins of zones.
History
History.
- How did standard time zones develop, according to historians? provenance
- Why do zone boundaries not follow meridians? definition
Curiosities
Unusual zones.
Curiosities
Unusual zones.
- Which zones have unusual offsets or straddle the date line? provenance
- Which entry fits a specific national time? action
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Physical world and living systems
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- PHY
- Domain
- PHY.PLC
- Other names and narrower kinds
- timezones in Japan, standard time zone in North America, time zone named for a UTC offset, IANA time zone, seasonal time zone, time in the United Kingdom
What it is Filled
A region of the Earth that observes a uniform standard time, defined by an offset from Coordinated Universal Time and often by seasonal daylight saving rules, established by governments and catalogued in the IANA time zone database; time zones govern scheduling, transport and communication across regions.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent convert times between zones correctly, explain time zone rules and daylight saving, identify the time zone of a place, and handle scheduling across zones.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Uniform standard time
- UTC offset
- Government-defined
- Seasonal changes in many
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Use a fixed offset where a zone's daylight saving or historical rules change the time.
- Schedule medical doses, legal deadlines or flights from stale time zone data.
- Present a disputed or unofficial zone assignment as settled.
Only with a human decision
- Changing the time zone setting of a shared system, calendar or device fleet.
May
- Convert times between zones using the current IANA time zone database.
- Schedule events showing the time zone and daylight saving rule that apply.
Moral aspects Filled
- Wrong times cause missed medicine, missed deadlines and safety errors in transport.
- Zone choices are political and affect daylight, health and daily life of whole populations.
Who is affected
- People across time zones
- Travellers and shift workers
- Operators of scheduling systems
Owners Filled
Steward
The government of each territory sets its legal time; the IANA time zone database records the rules.
Master systems
- IANA time zone database
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q15642566 - registry parent class
- Q6313217 - registry parent class
- Q82794 - registry parent class
related
- time standard - category
- region - category
- beginning - start times across zones
- government - authority
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.time-zone
- Wikidata: Q12143 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q12143)
- IANA tz identifier: Area/Location form time zone database
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
A time zone is a conventionally defined geographic region whose time offset and seasonal rules are administrative attributes rather than intrinsic physical properties.
Recognition required Filled
- UTC offsets
- IANA zone names such as Europe/London
- Abbreviations such as CST are ambiguous
- Not physical; regions on maps and rules in databases.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- convert times between zones
- identify the time zone and offset of a place
- explain daylight saving rules
- schedule across zones without error
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Wrong conversions around daylight saving changes
- Ambiguous abbreviations
- Outdated zone rules
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- IANA time zone database
- ISO 8601 time representations
- National time laws
Context of use required Filled
- Coordinating time across regions.
- standard time zones
- daylight saving variants
- zones named by UTC offset
- IANA time zone identifiers
- historical time zones
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q12143: time zone - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Time zone - general description of the item
Open questions
- Should each zone be a separate entry?
- How should the tz database be linked?
- How should rule changes be tracked?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q12143/spec.json