OWL-Time ISSUE-127 TimeZone model

I've created a specific issue for discussion of the time-zone model issue raised by Chris as (local) Issue-12.

I am inclined to go along with Chris's proposal to remove Appendix B which described the TimeZone ontology, since it is limited in scope and incomplete. However, some of the examples need links to timezone definitions, so we need to point them somewhere. Options:


(a)   Fix the timezone ontology - lots of work, no expertise

(b)   Keep it, but mark it 'informative' - but we already know it is slightly broken

(c)    Find an alternative.

An excellent, well maintained, source of timezone definitions is the list here: https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/

Individual timezones appear to have stable URIs, like https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/aedt
Furthermore,

1.      these guys have been maintaining this resource pretty well for quite a few years now,

2.      the site URL at least has been stable over at least one change in ownership (it changed from a hobby to a commercial site)

3.      after all, it's just a collation from sources of varying jurisdictional status and solidity[*] as there is no global governance arrangement
I doubt we could find a better source. There are IATA codes - see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Air_Transport_Association_code#IATA_timezone_codes but (a) these are not the same as the customary codes (EST, AEST etc) and (b) I can't find any corresponding linked resources.
So, for the time being, I propose to use the timeanddate URIs in the examples.

Note that TimeAndDate also provides an API to get descriptions like

      <timezone offset="+11:00">
        <zoneabb>AEDT</zoneabb>
        <zonename>Australian Eastern Daylight Time</zonename>
        <zoneoffset>36000</zoneoffset>
        <zonedst>3600</zonedst>
        <zonetotaloffset>39600</zonetotaloffset>
      </timezone>

which appears to show that their data model is less sophisticated than their HTML pages (which are very nice)!

[*] some customary timezones actually have zero legal status - e.g. https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/acwst

Simon J D Cox
Research Scientist
Environmental Informatics
CSIRO Land and Water<http://www.csiro.au/Research/LWF>

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