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Research draft

time zone

vr.tr.time-zone · PHY.PLC

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.

Thing Registry Physical world and living systems

Research draft, second pass

A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.

written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify

Researched by: Claude

Purpose and description

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.

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.

What it is for: Coordinating time across regions.

It can be convert times between zones; identify the time zone and offset of a place; explain daylight saving rules; schedule across zones without error.

Distinguishing features

Uniform standard time

UTC offset

Government-defined

Seasonal changes in many

What it looks like

Not physical; regions on maps and rules in databases.

How it is recognised

UTC offsets

IANA zone names such as Europe/London

Abbreviations such as CST are ambiguous

Related models

is a kind of - category

time standard

is a kind of - category

region

is related to - start times across zones

beginning

is defined by - authority

government

In practice

Families and kinds

standard time zones

daylight saving variants

zones named by UTC offset

IANA time zone identifiers

historical time zones

Identifiers

IANA tz identifier Area/Location form time zone database

Standards and regulation

IANA time zone database

ISO 8601 time representations

National time laws

Failure modes and hazards

Wrong conversions around daylight saving changes

Ambiguous abbreviations

Outdated zone rules

Also called

timezones in Japanstandard time zone in North Americatime zone named for a UTC offsetIANA time zoneseasonal time zonetime in the United Kingdom

Where this came from

wikidata · CC0 1.0

Source repository Registry entry point

Drafted structure

Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions.

Convert Time conversion.

Use zone identifiers.

Between

Converting times.

Between

Conversion.

  1. What is this time in the target time zone, using IANA identifiers and the date? measurement
  2. Does daylight saving apply on that date in either zone? boundary

Place

Zone of a place.

Place

Zone of a place.

  1. Which time zone and current offset does this place use? provenance
  2. Does the country have multiple zones? provenance
Rules Daylight saving and changes.

Rules change.

DST

Daylight saving.

DST

Daylight saving.

  1. When do clocks change in this zone this year, according to official rules? provenance
  2. Which countries have abolished or debated daylight saving? provenance

Changes

Rule changes.

Changes

Rule changes.

  1. Has this zone changed its rules recently, and is the software database updated? provenance
  2. How are historical times computed? action
Schedule Cross-zone scheduling.

Avoid errors.

Meetings

Meeting times.

Meetings

Meetings.

  1. What time suits participants across these zones? measurement
  2. How should the time be stated unambiguously? action

Systems

Software handling.

Systems

Software.

  1. How should times be stored and displayed in software to avoid zone errors? action
  2. Which libraries use the IANA database? provenance
Learn Background.

History and geography.

History

Origins of zones.

History

History.

  1. How did standard time zones develop, according to historians? provenance
  2. Why do zone boundaries not follow meridians? definition

Curiosities

Unusual zones.

Curiosities

Unusual zones.

  1. Which zones have unusual offsets or straddle the date line? provenance
  2. Which entry fits a specific national time? action

What the second pass must settle

  • Should each zone be a separate entry?
  • How should the tz database be linked?
  • How should rule changes be tracked?
Draft as JSON