Modifying the start and end time of the time slider

Start time and End time define the extent of the time slider; these settings determine the minimum and maximum time within which you can move the Time Slider control to visualize time-enabled data. Setting Start time and End time for the time slider can be thought of as a custom time extent.

The start time and end time allow you to define a time period, within the full time extent of the time slider, for which you want to visualize time-enabled data. By default, Start time and End time are set to the minimum and maximum time of the full time extent of the time slider. You can change these settings interactively on the time slider or on the Time Extent tab of the Time Slider Options dialog box.

The start time and end time have to be set within the full time extent of the time slider.

Learn more about the full time extent of the time slider

Caution:

If you choose a time step interval such that the last time step does not fall at the same time as the End time value of the time slider, the end time of the time slider is adjusted so that all time steps are available for visualizing your data. For example, if you have 10 days of data starting on January 1 and going through January 10, choosing a time step interval of 1 day will not impact the End time value of the time slider because the 10th time step will fall exactly on January 10. However, if you choose a time step of 2 days, the time steps will fall on January 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. However, since there is data for January 10, an additional time step is provided on January 11 as well. Therefore, in this case, the end time of the time slider is reported as January 11. This concept works best when you specify a time window when visualizing your data.

Learn more about setting the time step interval for visualizing your data

Learn more about setting a time window for visualizing your data

Changing the start time and end time interactively

You can use the Increase Time Extent and Decrease Time Extent buttons on the Time Slider window to zoom in or out of the time extent. Clicking these buttons can be thought of as a fixed zoom in or zoom out in the timeline and allows you to focus on visualizing data within a certain time extent more closely.

Steps:

1. To zoom in to the timeline, click the Decrease Time Extent button on the Time Slider window.
2. To zoom out, click the Increase Time Extent button on the Time Slider window.

   • The Decrease Time Extent button is unavailable if the time extent of the time slider is set to the full time extent.
   • The position of the slider or the current time on the slider does not change when interactively zooming in or out of a time extent.
   • Once zoomed in to a particular time extent, you can use the Scroll back and Scroll forward buttons on the Time Slider window to scroll backward or forward in time on the time slider.

     Learn more about scrolling backward and forward in time on the time slider

Changing the start time and end time manually

You can specify values for Start time and End time of the time slider on the Time Extent tab of the Time Slider Options dialog box. Specifying the start and end time of the time slider manually can be thought of as specifying a custom time extent within which you want to visualize your time-enabled data.

Steps:

1. Open the Time Slider window by clicking the Open Time Slider Window button on the Tools toolbar.
2. Click the Options button to open the Time Slider Options dialog box. Click the Time Extent tab.
3. Specify values for Start time and End time.

   You can click the Min and Max buttons to reset Start time and End time to the minimum or maximum time of the full time extent of the time slider.