https://ec.europa.eu/info/consultations/2018-summertime-arrangements_en
>
> Objective of the consultation
>
> Following a number of requests from citizens, from the European
> Parliament, and from certain EU Member States, the Commission has
> decided to investigate the functioning of the current EU summertime
> arrangements and to assess whether or not they should be changed.
>
> In this context, the Commission is interested in gathering the views
> of European citizens, stakeholders and Member States on the current EU
> summertime arrangements and on any potential change to those arrangements.
>
[Forwarded with permission.]
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: TZDB Questions
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2018 17:52:53 -0700
From: Mikey Schott <maschott(a)gmail.com>
To: eggert(a)cs.ucla.edu
Hello, Dr. Eggert. First let me express my thanks to you for all of the
time and energy you have put into the upkeep of the time zone database. I
appreciate all of the thought and detail that goes into the decisions
regarding each zone.
I've been working extensively with the time zone database over the past
month to identify a list of currently unique time zones for use in a
front-end web application. I'd be happy to share the details of my work if
you are curious, but since its purpose is tangential to that of the time
zone database, I'll leave them out of this email.
The reason I'm writing is because after working so closely with the data, I
had a few questions I was hoping you could answer for me. I have more or
less completed the work I was doing, so these questions come more from
curiosity than necessity.
1. Has there been any consideration to move the source data into a more
structured format like csv, xml, or json? I realize I'm probably in the
minority here in terms of people who would find this useful.
2. The latest zone entry for some zones that no longer use dst still
point to dst rules, e.g. Asia/Tokyo and the Japan rule set even though dst
is no longer used in Japan . Is there a reason why some non-dst zones use
this method where they point to an outdated rule set whereas most non-dst
zones use no rule set (i.e. rule = '-')?
3. I've noticed that some zones just use a shortened version of their
offset for their format, whereas timeanddate.com gives them a more
descriptive format (e.g. Europe/Volgograd uses MSK vs. +03). Is there a
reason for the discrepancy? Does the time zone database error on the side
of caution here?
4. I believe that one of the primary purposes of the Link zones is to
ensure that there is a zone that covers every country. Is there a specific
list or source that the time zone database uses to decide the list of
countries that are covered? I noticed that Bouvet Island (BV) and Heard and
McDonald Islands (HM) are not included despite having ISO-3166-2 country
codes. (Although both have a population of 0, so it hardly qualifies as an
oversight.)
5. Do you have a favorite time zone? I've become quite fond of
Antarctica/Troll both for its name and its unique offset.
Thanks again for all of your work on the database. I've signed up for the
mailing list so I can keep up to date.
-Mikey
The existing rules of DST@Shanghai is
# Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S
> Rule Shang 1940 only - Jun 3 0:00 1:00 D
> Rule Shang 1940 1941 - Oct 1 0:00 0 S
> Rule Shang 1941 only - Mar 16 0:00 1:00 D
> Rule PRC 1986 only - May 4 0:00 1:00 D
> Rule PRC 1986 1991 - Sep Sun>=11 0:00 0 S
> Rule PRC 1987 1991 - Apr Sun>=10 0:00 1:00 D
There are a news record about the DST in China:
http://bjrb.bjd.com.cn/html/2017-08/25/content_169986.htm
The accurate hour of DST@China is 02:00.
For Example, In 1986, the start time of DST@China is 02:00 May 4 1986. The
end time of DST@China is 02:00 Sep 14 1986.
So the rule should be modified to:
# Rule NAME FROM TO TYPE IN ON AT SAVE LETTER/S
> Rule Shang 1940 only - Jun 3 0:00 1:00 D
> Rule Shang 1940 1941 - Oct 1 0:00 0 S
> Rule Shang 1941 only - Mar 16 0:00 1:00 D
> Rule PRC 1986 only - May 4 2:00 1:00 D
> Rule PRC 1986 1991 - Sep Sun>=11 2:00 0 S
> Rule PRC 1987 1991 - Apr Sun>=10 2:00 1:00 D
Earlier this week Mainichi Japan published an article describing some criticism
of reintroducing DST to Japan. My favorite quote was this one, abut the time and
cost to reprogram computers:
"The biggest hurdle in Japan to putting daylight saving time in place is the
cost and workload required to adjust computer systems. Professor Tetsutaro
Uehara of Ritsumeikan University, a specialist in information systems, estimates
that it would take about four years and hundreds of billions of yen to do just that.
"'Japan is a country with advanced information technology systems, and computers
with timing functions are used everywhere. Many are programmed with Japan time
based on the international standard time,' pointed out Uehara. 'Software would
have to be rewritten to introduce summer time. Such work would take about four
years and cost hundreds of billions of yen. It is crazy to attempt to put it in
place by the 2020 Games,' said the bewildered professor."
My source:
Nakagawa S, Hatta K. Daylight saving time causes more trouble than benefits, say
critics. The Mainichi. 2018-08-12.
https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20180812/p2a/00m/0na/010000c
Prompted by the recent deadly heat wave in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met
yesterday with the president of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, and
discussed whether to introduce one or two hours of daylight saving time during
the 2020 Olympics to help beat that summer's heat.
Although Japan's 2020 Olympics bid said that Tokyo's July/August climate has
"many days of mild and sunny weather" and is "an ideal climate for athletes to
perform at their best", in reality a Tokyo summer's heat and humidity can be
brutal: summer temperatures regularly get to 35°C (95°F) and last week peaked at
41°C (106°F).
The International Olympic Committee has agreed to allow staging the marathon at
07:00 to beat the heat. "Why not 05:00? the sun will already be up then," Tokyo
residents may be thinking. Apparently the recent heat wave has caused organizers
to think the same thing, as a 2-hour DST would advance the event's effective
starting time to 05:00 by the sun while still keeping it nominally at 07:00.
Although the 1964 Tokyo Games were held in October to avoid heat, this was
before the Olympics schedule was subject to the scheduling demands of
broadcasters and sponsors. The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics ratings were
down 9% from 2012 (including digital streaming) and event dates will be an
important factor in the 2020 ratings. Although a 2-hour DST would presumably
affect attendance and ratings only in Japan, that alone is a significant concern
for the event's organizers.
My sources:
Tokyo weighs daylight saving time for Olympics as heat wave incinerates weather
descriptions used for 2020 Games bid. Japan Times. 2018-07-28.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/28/national/tokyo-weighs-daylight…
OLYMPICS/2020 Tokyo organizers consider daylight saving to beat heat. Asahi
Shimbun. 2018-07-28. http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201807280009.html
The legislators have approved a bill to allow California voters to
decide whether the state should move to permanent daylight time.
The governor now has less than 12 days to veto.
Even if voters say yes, federal approval will be required.
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/technology/20180622/year-round-daylight-sa…
--
Steve Allen <sla(a)ucolick.org> WGS-84 (GPS)
UCO/Lick Observatory--ISB 260 Natural Sciences II, Room 165 Lat +36.99855
1156 High Street Voice: +1 831 459 3046 Lng -122.06015
Santa Cruz, CA 95064 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla/ Hgt +250 m
There is currently a bill to change time in Volgograd oblast from
Moscow time to Moscow+1. The bill is the result of a local
referendum, so it will likely be passed into law. That would require
changing Europe/Volgograd from UTC+3 to UTC+4. Proposed change date
(2018-10-28) though looks too optimistic (publication of the law
before that date while still possible is unlikely) and will likely be
amended.
http://sozd.parliament.gov.ru/bill/452878-7
Other news:
The bill to reintroduce Julian calendar awaits its rejection for some
time already:
http://sozd.parliament.gov.ru/bill/194304-7
The bill to move clocks 1 hour forward ("permanent summer time")
throughout Russia was recently recommended to be rejected:
http://sozd.parliament.gov.ru/bill/383137-7
Russian Railways announced that they are changing time displayed on
station clocks, timetables and tickets from Moscow time to local time:
http://eng.rzd.ru/newse/public/en?STRUCTURE_ID=15&layer_id=4839&id=107332
Hi there.
It looks to me like the time zone data for America/Grand_Turk is incorrect
in 2018e version of the database. Turks and Caicos switched to supporting
daylight savings time in March of 2018. So in summer the correct time for
America/Ground_Turk should be GMT -4 and then back to GMT -5 again in the
fall.
The current database returns times for summer of 2018 as GMT -5, which is
incorrect.
Thank you.
--
Rob MacGrogan | Director of Software Development
rmacgrogan(a)flightbridge.com <rmacgrogan(a)flightbridge.com>
850-509-6158
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FlightBridge, Inc.
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