idea Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

MTaft-Ferguson — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 17:40:18 GMT

If this older idea cannot be implemented: Option to not use UTC time offset in ArcGIS Online

Could we instead have the option to set ArcGIS Pro to display time in UTC, rather than in the local time zone of the machine it is running on?

The use case that prompts this request is as follows: an organization has some users with Pro, and many more users who only use ArcGIS Online. These AGOL-only users sometimes create new hosted feature services with time fields. It is not feasible for them to publish these feature services from Pro or ArcMap (which I understand would allow them to associate the local time zone with these feature services). However, when Pro users then interact with those feature services in Pro, time is displayed in the local time; similarly, if Pro users add features, those features' time attributes are added in local time and so display the "wrong" time in AGOL.

As we are trying to use AGOL + Pro for event management, the four/five hour difference between UTC (displayed on AGOL) and Eastern Time (displayed in Pro) is a potential cause for major confusion. It doesn't matter much to us whether the data is actually stored in UTC or not, but it matters that everyone working on this data see the same event occurring at the same hour, regardless of whether they view it via Pro or via AGOL.

Enable capability to display UTC dates in local time zone in ArcGIS Pro (when working with an ArcGIS Online Hosted Feature Layer)

TaupoDistrict_Council — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 22:46:10 GMT

Currently, it is not possible to display UTC dates in a local time zone when working with a time enabled ArcGIS Online Hosted Feature Layer in ArcGIS Pro. This functionality should be enabled.

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro - Status changed to: In Product Plan

RussellBrennan — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 01:36:11 GMT

Hi MTaft,

In the next release of Pro we will consume a new service property for a 'preferred time zone' that will be available in next releases of ArcGIS Online and Enterprise. This preferred time zone is what Pro will use to display your data, as a service owner/admin you will be able to set this property to whatever time zone you want to use to work with your data. We hope to build on this functionality in subsequent releases.

Russell

Can't publish feature service with timezone

Anonymous User — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 01:51:08 GMT

Using ArcGIS Pro v2.6.3 and ArcGIS Online.

We have noticed that, when updating date fields, the raw date that ends up stored in the feature service is different depending on whether the method used to enter the date was Pro vs other applications.

When we update a date using the standard ArcGIS Online map viewer or Collector, the datetime picked will be in our local timezone (happens to be Auckland, NZ) and the date is converted and stored in UTC time (currently 13 hours behind) which, to us, is correct and is what we expect.

However, if the same datetime is entered via Pro, this is stored directly as-is into the database. Meaning the stored date, when compared to the other UTC times, is 13 hours ahead of what it should be.

The answer according to several blogs and Geonet posts appeared to be to set a timezone when publishing the feature service. We tried this by publishing a new test service, but it made no difference.

To try and understand this, we examined the REST endpoint JSON and observed that the feature service had the following set in the service definition:

  "dateFieldsTimeReference" : {
    "timeZone" : "UTC", 
    "respectsDaylightSaving" : false
  }

This seemed unusual, since we had specifically set a timezone in Pro before publishing. We tested publishing several more feature services, sometimes specifying a timezone and/or different timezones and with daylight savings ticked/unticked, but every time the JSON says the timezone was UTC and respectsDaylightSaving was false.

We then tried manually updating the service definition using the admin rest endpoint. We weren't able to find any documentation about what values should be set in place of "UTC", but we at least tried setting "respectsDaylightSaving" to true. No error message was reported when updating the definition, but when we examined the JSON of the service definition afterwards, it was still set to false, so nothing had actually updated.

In summary, currently whenever we enter a date using Pro, it ends up 13 hours out. The only workaround is to tell users not to update the dates in Pro, or else manually enter a time 13 hours in the past. Publishing with a timezone either does not work, or we are misunderstanding how it works.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Re: Enable capability to display UTC dates in local time zone in ArcGIS Pro (when working with an ArcGIS Online Hosted Feature Layer) - Status changed to: In Product Plan

TanuHoque — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 09:00:17 GMT

@TaupoDistrict_Council
please see @RussellBrennan's reply in the following thread.

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-pro-ideas/time-zone-toggle-in-arcgis-pro/idc-p/1004540/highlight/true#M14392

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

TanuHoque — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 09:34:15 GMT

Thanks @RussellBrennan.

@MTaft-Ferguson,

In addition to what Russell mentioned, if I may I'd like to add that we understand there are a lot of issues our users have been facing when it comes to date-time values. As you know working with date/time especially when it comes to time zones is a big pain in general.

Here is one thing I'd like to clarify:

when Pro users then interact with those feature services in Pro, time is displayed in the local time;

Technically, unlike MapViewer (or JS API), ArcGIS Pro, as of v2.6, does not do any time zone conversion while consuming date/time values from a feature service. It assumes date/times are coming in UTC and it displays them in UTC. The reason it assumes 'date/times are in UTC' is because as per ArcGIS REST API specifications, map/feature service query operations always returns date/time in epoch (UTC).

Same thing happens while editing - Pro assumes an editor enters date/times in UTC and submits that as UTC. When someone enters date/time in local time zone, you will see incorrect data.

If you open a feature service layer's Property page, switch to the Time tab and scroll down a bit, you will see the Time Zone is set to UTC for that layer.

Finally I have a question for you:

Do you store event date/times from different time zones in a single feature service? Or you maintain one feature service storing only data from a single time zone?

I'd appreciate if you kindly explain a bit more on your use case. May be sample data that you might share with us?

Thanks a lot.

Tanu

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

MadelaineTaftFerguson — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 13:15:11 GMT

Great to hear this will be resolved soon!

@TanuHoque I haven't tested this in v2.6, the post was made well before 2.6 existed. If 2.6 does no time zone conversion that would be totally fine for our purposes.

We do not store events from different time zones in a single feature service, no. Our event information is local to our one campus, perhaps at most to the state of MA. I don't foresee a need to (ever?) cross time zones for these purposes.

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

TanuHoque — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 15:53:34 GMT

I haven't tested this in v2.6, the post was made well before 2.6 existed.

@MadelaineTaftFerguson
I meant to say that it has been like that, I think, since the beginning. There was nothing new done in 2.6 in this area.

As Russell mentioned that the new enhancements coming up in next Pro release (fingers crossed).

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

MTaft-Ferguson — Wed, 25 Nov 2020 16:28:44 GMT

@TanuHoque That is not what I am seeing in 2.6.2

Here is an example feature service in Pro:

Same service in AGOL:

Honestly I don't know which timestamp is correct (aka reflects the time the editor would have seen on his computer's clock when he did the edits). I believe it's probably the AGOL time. It doesn't really matter-- what matters is that they are being displayed differently in AGOL/browser vs Pro.

Its properties show that its time zone is UTC:

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

TanuHoque — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 07:35:20 GMT

@MTaft-Ferguson
Sorry for the delay, and as it appears I couldn't make it clear.

What you described in your last comment is how Pro behaves. And we realized that creates a lot of confusion.

As I mentioned:

ArcGIS Online Feature Services store date/time in UTC
Feature Services return date/time in UTC
ArcGIS Pro displays date/time values in UTC
When you visualize the same feature service in MapViewer (or AGOL) in a web browser, the date/time values are displayed in your device's local time zone, NOT in UTC.
- Since you are in MA, date/time values are displayed in EDT when viewed in AGOL map viewer - which are 4 hours (or 5 depending on day light saving) behind UTC.
Since AGOL and Pro are showing date/times in two different time zones you are seeing the discrepancies. It creates confusions, and potentially corrupts data when an editor enters date/time values in local time zone instead of UTC in Pro.

With release of ArcGIS Pro 2.7 and AGOL Dec release, this discrepancy should go away albeit not by default. You need to opt into that mode. The reason we will ask users to opt into is because if we change the default behavior, it could potentially break a lot of users' current workflows.

Please let me know if you have any question.

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

TanuHoque — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 07:43:15 GMT

hi @Anonymous User,

I just merged your Geonet question titled "Can't publish feature service with timezone" to this post as it appears to me that you are running into the same problem that is being discussed here.

Please read previous responses and let me know if you have any question or I misunderstood your question.

Thanks.

Tanu

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

MadelaineTaftFerguson — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 13:10:33 GMT

@TanuHoque Great! If this can be managed in the next releases that will be perfect-- opt-in is totally fine for our workflows, we can opt in just for the event management feature classes and leave the rest, because it doesn't matter nearly as much for those. Good to know which is which in terms of which time zone is actually getting displayed where.

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

Anonymous User — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 19:55:19 GMT

Hi @TanuHoque

Thanks for merging and tagging me in this thread. Yes I think this discussion is relevant to my question so I will keep an eye out for the upcoming changes and review them to see if they help with our use cases.

cheers,

-Paul

@Anonymous User

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

TanuHoque — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 23:59:08 GMT

Thanks @MadelaineTaftFerguson, @Anonymous User.

We will keep you posted

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

TanuHoque — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 22:34:01 GMT

hello all,

Now that ArcGIS Pro 2.7 is released and ArcGIS Online December release it out, I'm updating this post with instructions on how to resolve issues you folks mentioned in here.

how to update an agol fs with preferredTimeReference
go to the UpdateDefinition api
https://servicesdev.arcgis.com/cqvgkJ9ZrNkn9BCU/arcgis/rest/admin/services/<yourServerName>/FeatureServer/updateDefinition?token=<token>&f=pjson
remove everything from the text box
copy paste this to set time zone to Pacific Standard Time. Please see the link below for Windows Time Zone IDs for other areas
{ "preferredTimeReference" : { "timeZone" : "Pacific Standard Time", "respectsDaylightSaving" : true } }
click Update Layer Definition button

here is the link to Microsoft help listing all Windows Time Zone IDs: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/embedded/ms912391(v=winembedded.11)

Note: once you update your hosted feature service with preferred time zone, you might need to re-add the layer in Pro.

If you happen to use arcade expression to label features with date/time, you might run into a known limit. Here is what you can do:

use this arcade expression instead, or
Text($feature.ADateField, "DD/MM/YYYY HH:mm:ss A")
use VBScript/Python expression

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro - Status changed to: Implemented

TanuHoque — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 22:50:18 GMT

Please see my last comment on 12/18/2020.

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

TanuHoque — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 19:14:39 GMT

for future reference:

we blogged about the instructions etc. in a blog

https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-pro/mapping/working-with-agol-feature-services-date-time-attributes-in-non-utc-time-zone-in-arcgis-pro-2-7/

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

GCPSFAdmin — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 20:34:25 GMT

@TanuHoque I'm having the following issue when using the directions posted in the blog. I receive this error:

{
  "error" : 
  {
    "code" : 400, 
    "message" : "Unable to update feature service definition.", 
    "details" : [
      "Invalid definition for ''.", 
      "Invalid object passed in, ':' or '}' expected. (3): { “preferredTimeReference” : { “timeZone” : “Mountain Standard Time”, “respectsDaylightSaving” : true } }"
    ]
  }
}

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

TanuHoque — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 21:24:11 GMT

@GCPSFAdmin

sorry for some reasons I didn't see the notification for your comment.

If you copy/pasted the string from the blog, then I could see why that could fail. The double-quotes were somehow messed up (I have fixed that in the blog too).

please try this and let me know if it still does not work

{ "preferredTimeReference" : { "timeZone" : "AUS Eastern Standard Time", "respectsDaylightSaving" : true } }

Re: Time zone toggle in ArcGIS Pro

MikeLachance1 — Tue, 21 Sep 2021 22:26:05 GMT

@TanuHoqueI was able to add the preferredTimeReference in my definition but when I view the data table in ArcGIS Online, it still hows the data in UTC. Any idea what is going on?