Serving time-aware layers

ArcGIS offers time-enabled layers that store information about the state of a dataset over periods of time. You can set time properties on your layers on the Time tab of the Layer Properties dialog box.

Learn more about enabling time on your data

When you publish your map to ArcGIS Server, the time information in your time-enabled layers and map is preserved and is accessible through the map service. You can use this information to change the display of your maps or perform temporal queries. In fact, ArcGIS Server map services are the only way that you can perform query operations on a time-enabled layer.

Learn more about publishing a map service

You can work with your time-enbled layers in a map service using either ArcMap or the various Web client APIs for ArcGIS Server. For example, the ArcGIS JavaScript API contains classes for working with time-enabled layers, allowing you to easily display temporal data patterns in a Web map.