CIA confused about Cedros Island time zone?
At 07:38 2/2/2014, Arthur David Olson wrote:
From Randy Olson (no known relation), a map of solar time versus clock time:
That map, and the maps it was derived from (including the original source, the CIA) show Cedros Island as being UTC-7 (as if it were in Baja Sur, not Baja). The border between Baja and Baja Sur is on the 28th parallel, which lies south of Cedros Island. Baja is in the Pacific Time zone, UTC-8. Baja Sur is in the Mountain time zone, UTC-7. I find multiple references confirming that Cedros Island is part of Baja, thus UTC-8. I find no references making any allusion to the official or unofficial observed time on the island to be other than UTC-8. This seems to be a significant error, not I presume the type the CIA normally makes... so I am wondering if I've missed something. Thoughts? Regards, Steve Jones, St. Louis, MO Emacs!
To follow up on my previous mention of the topic, here is an image that illustrates the problem: Emacs! (image available online at http://OnTimeZone.com/images/baja.gif) I contacted an established business on the island and confirmed they observe Pacific time, not Mountain. As I mentioned previously, the time zone border in the area follows the border between Baja and Baja Sur, which at that point runs directly east/west on the 28th parallel. I had noticed that some maps (e.g. here.com nee navteq, http://here.com/27.8912314,-114.8358911,10,0,0,normal.day) show a ferry running between the island and Bahia Tortugas on the mainland in Baja Sur (which observes Mountain time). I confirmed that the ferry does not, indeed, exist. My contact had never even heard of it. So a pure guess is that when the CIA first drew the map, the ferry was in existence and led to the island observing Mountain time - possibly unofficially, who knows - and that when the ferry went away the economic tie to Baja Sur went away with it, and the island (now served commercially only by air) reverted to Pacific time. I have no evidence to support that guess. I bring this to the attention of the list just in case this needs to be further investigated and to ensure that any history in the TZ db related to the affected area is accurate. Regards, Steve Jones, St. Louis, MO Emacs!
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Steve Jones