Informing ICANN about IANA time zone database status of Jerusalem
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: ICANN <do-not-reply@icann.org> Date: Sat, May 4, 2013 at 7:34 PM Subject: Form submission confirmation To: ...@tobiasconradi.com This is a copy for your records: Submitted on 4 May 2013 Submitted by user: Submitted values are: First Name: Last Name: Email Address: ...@tobiasconradi.com Affiliation: Country of Current Residence: Germany Please Select a Category: General - for general questions and comments Subject: ICANN vs UN and international practice - Status of Jerusalem Message: ICANN puts Jerusalem as Israel territory. The issue has been posted to the IANA time zone mailing list, but the maintainer did not reply. http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2013-April/019134.html http://mm.icann.org/pipermail/tz/2013-May/019227.html -- Tobias Conradi Rheinsberger Str. 18 10115 Berlin Germany http://tobiasconradi.com
I guess I could calculate it myself using the data that I have, but does anyone know off-hand how many tz regions are currently in use?
On Jul 16, 2013, at 10:54 PM, David Patte ₯ wrote:
I guess I could calculate it myself using the data that I have, but does anyone know off-hand how many tz regions are currently in use?
Depends on how you define "in current use". Looking at the zone output files (the ones produced from the text files), one system has 580 zone files, another 587. In that first system, there are 436 unique files (the remainder being links, or files with the same content but a different name). The other system has 321 unique files, because it uses a modified zic that discards any data older than 2001. So there are 436 distinct regions if you go back to the beginning of the zone data, and 321 if you consider only places that differed sometime in the 21st century. That's a surprisingly high number. paul
Thanks for checking this for me. I also have a related question about the creation of new zones. Am I correct to say, that for every lat/lng there (theoretically) exists a zone in that country and/or region that represents its timezone rules since 1970; that if no tz zone exists in that country and/or region that represents it clock rules since 1970 correctly, that a new zone is to be created in tz for it? I am looking at this from the perspective of timezone boundaries; that tz boundaries (theoretically) don't change unless new tz zones are created, or it is discovered that a latlng's clock 'rules' since 1970 can be more accurately be described by a different tz zone? On 2013-07-17 10:38, Paul_Koning@Dell.com wrote:
On Jul 16, 2013, at 10:54 PM, David Patte ₯ wrote:
I guess I could calculate it myself using the data that I have, but does anyone know off-hand how many tz regions are currently in use? Depends on how you define "in current use". Looking at the zone output files (the ones produced from the text files), one system has 580 zone files, another 587. In that first system, there are 436 unique files (the remainder being links, or files with the same content but a different name). The other system has 321 unique files, because it uses a modified zic that discards any data older than 2001.
So there are 436 distinct regions if you go back to the beginning of the zone data, and 321 if you consider only places that differed sometime in the 21st century. That's a surprisingly high number.
paul
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On 7/17/2013 9:53 AM, David Patte ₯ wrote:
Am I correct to say, that for every lat/lng there (theoretically) exists a zone in that country and/or region that represents its timezone rules since 1970;
I don't think it is meaningful to assign a zone to uninhabited regions. Antartica is a good example. In the maps I produced, I only gave points (for the bases), not polygons, and there are no polygons in Antarctica.
I am looking at this from the perspective of timezone boundaries; that tz boundaries (theoretically) don't change unless new tz zones are created, or it is discovered that a latlng's clock 'rules' since 1970 can be more accurately be described by a different tz zone?
There is the situation of changes in administrative boundaries, which do not always create new TZ timezones. For example, in 2000, the boundary between Saudi Arabia and Yemen was redefined (http://www.dur.ac.uk/ibru/publications/view/?id=170). It's unclear to me whether the areas that changed should have resulted in creating new TZ timezones, but they certainly have not. Eric.
Eric Muller wrote:
There is the situation of changes in administrative boundaries, ... It's unclear to me whether the areas that changed should have resulted in creating new TZ timezones, but they certainly have not.
Since the database associates each zone with a city or similar concentration of population, perhaps these boundary changes should cause creation of a distinct zone only where a city changes hands. Taking the Saudi-Yemen example, the territory changing jurisdiction is a large swath of desert oilfield and a chunk of sea, both only lightly inhabited, not making a pressing case for timezone tracking. Actually the Saudi-Yemen change also has no effect on the TZ database for a stronger reason: both countries set their clocks the same (constant UT+3h since 1950), so the boundary change doesn't actually affect the agreement of wall clocks. When was the last time sovereignty changed over an appreciable conurbation but not over its entire country? There were some in the resolution of World War II; any later? Any since 1970? -zefram
On Wednesday, July 17 2013, "Zefram" wrote to "tz@iana.org" saying:
When was the last time sovereignty changed over an appreciable conurbation but not over its entire country? There were some in the resolution of World War II; any later? Any since 1970?
Scanning <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_map_changes>, I'd say August 14, 2008 -- the transfer of the Bakassi Peninsula (pop. 150,000 - 300,000) from Nigeria to Cameroon. Both Nigeria and Cameroon are UTC+1, though. -- Jonathan Lennox lennox@cs.columbia.edu
Before that, it looks like the Transfer of the Panama Canal Zone from the United States to Panama would count. Unlikely there was a change in zone, but DST transitions could be different before and after the change. --Ted On 7/17/2013 12:46 PM, lennox@cs.columbia.edu wrote:
On Wednesday, July 17 2013, "Zefram" wrote to "tz@iana.org" saying:
When was the last time sovereignty changed over an appreciable conurbation but not over its entire country? There were some in the resolution of World War II; any later? Any since 1970?
Scanning <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_map_changes>, I'd say August 14, 2008 -- the transfer of the Bakassi Peninsula (pop. 150,000 - 300,000) from Nigeria to Cameroon.
Both Nigeria and Cameroon are UTC+1, though.
On 7/17/2013 11:50 AM, Zefram wrote:
When was the last time sovereignty changed over an appreciable conurbation but not over its entire country? There were some in the resolution of World War II; any later? Any since 1970? -zefram
Of course the question is a bit ambiguous, and I am not sure about the last one, but EastTimor, South Soudan, Czechoslovakia, Croatia &tc, come to mind. Eric.
On 7/17/2013 11:05 AM, Eric Muller wrote:
On 7/17/2013 9:53 AM, David Patte ₯ wrote:
Am I correct to say, that for every lat/lng there (theoretically) exists a zone in that country and/or region that represents its timezone rules since 1970;
I don't think it is meaningful to assign a zone to uninhabited regions. Antartica is a good example. In the maps I produced, I only gave points (for the bases), not polygons, and there are no polygons in Antarctica.
I would agree. Since the TZ project attempts to record the actual clock adjustments performed by residents of each zone area, uninhabited areas don't aren't generally represented, as there's nothing to represent. --Ted
On Wed, Jul 17, 2013 at 9:38 PM, <Paul_Koning@dell.com> wrote:
On Jul 16, 2013, at 10:54 PM, David Patte ₯ wrote:
I guess I could calculate it myself using the data that I have, but does anyone know off-hand how many tz regions are currently in use?
Depends on how you define "in current use". Looking at the zone output files (the ones produced from the text files), one system has 580 zone files, another 587. In that first system, there are 436 unique files (the remainder being links, or files with the same content but a different name). The other system has 321 unique files, because it uses a modified zic that discards any data older than 2001.
For my definition of "in current use" I use the zone.tab file - its close enough for my needs. -- Stuart Bishop <stuart@stuartbishop.net> http://www.stuartbishop.net/
At any given time at least 38 different UTC offsets are in use in the officially inhabited parts of the world: UTC-11 UTC-10 UTC-9:30 UTC-9 UTC-8 UTC-7 UTC-6 UTC-5 UTC-4:30 UTC-4 UTC-3:30 (November-March only) UTC-3 UTC-2:30 (March-November only) UTC-2 UTC-1 UTC UTC+1 UTC+2 UTC+3 UTC+3:30 (September-March only) UTC+4 UTC+4:30 UTC+5 UTC+5:30 UTC+5:45 UTC+6 UTC+6:30 UTC+7 UTC+8 UTC+8:45 UTC+9 UTC+9:30 UTC+10 UTC+10:30 UTC+11 UTC+11:30 UTC+12 UTC+12:45 (April-September only) UTC+13 UTC+13:45 (September-April only) UTC+14 Hank W. Austin, Texas, U.S.A. -----Original Message----- From: tz-bounces@iana.org [mailto:tz-bounces@iana.org] On Behalf Of David Patte ? Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2013 02:54 To: tz@iana.org Subject: [tz] Number of active tz regions? I guess I could calculate it myself using the data that I have, but does anyone know off-hand how many tz regions are currently in use?
participants (9)
-
David Patte ₯ -
Eric Muller -
Hank W. -
lennox＠cs.columbia.edu -
Paul_Koning＠Dell.com -
Stuart Bishop -
Ted Cabeen -
Tobias Conradi -
Zefram