On 05/06/2012 02:03 AM, Tobias Conradi wrote:
Can you tell a way of how a user determines the correct zone for a random location in Indiana, selecting between
America/Indiana/Indianapolis America/Indiana/Vincennes America/Indiana/Winamac America/Indiana/Marengo America/Indiana/Petersburg America/Indiana/Vevay America/Kentucky/Louisville America/New York
without reading the comments?
Fortunately, nearly everyone in Indiana is aware of the bizarre timezone patchwork. The simple rule, "if you're in Eastern time with DST, use New_York, if you're in Eastern time without DST, use Indianapolis; if you're in Central time, use Chicago" is correct for 99% of them, because the breakaway counties are farmland with few inhabitants. Out in the hinterland, it becomes "if you are in one of the half-dozen counties that have their own zones (named like the counties), use that." If you were to pick a random location on a map in Indiana and ask what time is observed there, I'd be hard pressed to answer. But in that particular case, better mapping might not even help; a great many inhabitants and businesses set their clocks to the large cities of Chicago or Indianapolis rather than whatever time their county legislatures have decided to observe that year.