3 ms·

I wander if we need a new version of ISO8601 which includes the TZ location rather than just an offset. Something like: 2022-03-13T07:21:39@Europe/London I

I wander if we need a new version of ISO8601 which includes the TZ location rather than just an offset. Something like: 2022-03-13T07:21:39@Europe/London I suppose that’s also problematic if the location changes to a different time zone due to boundary changes. Maybe we need a coordinate (and planetary body) system: 2022-03-13T07:21:39@Earth/51.5055853,-0.1014699 We need that full frame of reference to be sure we will be correct in future.

dzikimarian 5y ago
Well, there's also continental drift :-) honestly everything we do in IT is approximation - some of them are worth accounting for, many are not - at least for most of us.
mqus 5y ago
I think tzdata timezone locations (like Europe/London) are fully sufficient, since they are tracking the clock everyone uses in that location. If the boundaries change, then so will the clock for everyone in that boundary, so the time probably won't be right regardless. I think coordinates are not completely right, since the time context is mostly political/cultural, not geographic. I don't have examples but I can easily imagine a border region specifying some event in a time that is referencing the region across the border.
- samwillis 5y ago
  > I think coordinates are not completely right, since the time context is mostly political/cultural, not geographic. My point was that geopolitical boundaries change and so what the “major” city near by for reference is now, may be wrong in the future. Coordinates ensure it’s completely future proof from boundary changes and correct to an exact location.
  - nly 5y ago
    There will always be outliers. If you're scheduling a meeting in a small town on the border of 2 countries that honor different time-zones, then you're probably just going to have to pick one to be the source of truth, and hope it's the other side causing the disruption (changing their clocks) and they'll pay for the administrative overhead.
    - bombcar 5y ago
      This happened when Mexico and US stopped being on the same DST schedule - San Diego and Tijuana now have a time difference part of the year.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

dzikimarian 5y ago

Well, there's also continental drift :-) honestly everything we do in IT is approximation - some of them are worth accounting for, many are not - at least for most of us.

mqus 5y ago

I think tzdata timezone locations (like Europe/London) are fully sufficient, since they are tracking the clock everyone uses in that location. If the boundaries change, then so will the clock for everyone in that boundary, so the time probably won't be right regardless. I think coordinates are not completely right, since the time context is mostly political/cultural, not geographic. I don't have examples but I can easily imagine a border region specifying some event in a time that is referencing the region across the border.

samwillis 5y ago
> I think coordinates are not completely right, since the time context is mostly political/cultural, not geographic. My point was that geopolitical boundaries change and so what the “major” city near by for reference is now, may be wrong in the future. Coordinates ensure it’s completely future proof from boundary changes and correct to an exact location.
- nly 5y ago
  There will always be outliers. If you're scheduling a meeting in a small town on the border of 2 countries that honor different time-zones, then you're probably just going to have to pick one to be the source of truth, and hope it's the other side causing the disruption (changing their clocks) and they'll pay for the administrative overhead.
  - bombcar 5y ago
    This happened when Mexico and US stopped being on the same DST schedule - San Diego and Tijuana now have a time difference part of the year.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]