Collector and Editor Tracking

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05-03-2016 06:26 AM
jaykapalczynski
Frequent Contributor

When I enable editor tracking 4 fields are added.

  • The name of the user who created it.
  • The date and time it was created.
  • The name of the user who edited it.
  • The date and time it was last edited.

But when I look at the data that is recorded the date field is looking like Greenwich time....

Where do I need to specify what time zone I am in to make this record the accurate time?

Thanks in advance.

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5 Replies
PeteCrosier
Occasional Contributor III

I think you have two choices - UTC or the database's timezone. UTC is the default. At the time of enabling editor tracking, if you're using the Enable Editor Tracking tool, you can choose between the two. I would imagine that if you enable this within the ArcGIS Online interface then it will pick UTC.

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jaykapalczynski
Frequent Contributor

Where would you set this in ArcGIS Online?

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DougMorgenthaler
Esri Regular Contributor

I'd recommend storing the time in UTC unless you have a specific reason not to; clients like Collector for ArcGIS will automatically apply the appropriate time zone offset so it is displayed in local time of the device/user rather than where the database physically resides  (which might be in a different time zone altogether).

-Doug

RandyBurton
MVP Alum

I also suggest using UTC.  I will query features using the REST API and Python with a line of code to convert the time zone from UTC, such as:

editTime = time.strftime('%c', time.localtime(feature['attributes']['EditDate']/1000))

In addition, there is a Convert Time Zone tool in the Data Management - Fields toolset that can assist in this process if you are downloading the feature in a file geodatabase.

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