Irregularly spaced temporal data
If you are using only one time field to visualize your data over time, you might find that there are gaps in the data displayed if your data is not regularly spaced. This may result in a period when nothing is displayed.
To overcome this, you can calculate an end time field where the time value for a particular feature is the start time value of the next feature. The Calculate End Time tool can be run to calculate the end time field.
Learn more about the Calculate End Time tool
A feature with a start and end time can be thought of as a feature valid for a certain duration. When visualizing your data using the time slider, the feature will be displayed till the time on slider is within the start and end time of the feature. For example, if the start time of a feature in your data is January 1, 2010 and the end time is January 15, 2010, the feature will start displaying as soon as the time slider's time is January 1, 2010. The feature is displayed till January 15, 2010.
Note:- For irregularly spaced data with start and end time fields, set Layer Time to Each feature has a start and end time field on the Time tab of the Layer Properties dialog box.
- When visualizing irregularly spaced data over time, you can also choose to specify a time window on the Time Slider. Using a time window allows you to visualize data within a certain window or duration of time. For example, if you have temporal data that was collected sporadically during a day, you can choose to visualize this data on a daily basis by setting a time step of one day and for displaying the data for the past one day, you can set the time window to one day as well.