Spatial phenomena collected with time information can allow you to see what happened at a specific time or what may happen in the future. By animating time-based data, you can visualize it at each step and see patterns or trends emerging over time. Examples of phenomena with data that are well suited for this purpose include hurricanes, tornadoes, and other meteorological events; population migrations; land-use and environment change; and wildfire or flood event progression.
Some map layers are time enabled; they contain spatial datasets that include different information for the same location at different times. If a map contains time-enabled layers, it is time aware, and you can configure it to set the map time zone, display the data during a specific period of time, or animate the data over time. Time animation can be enabled in Map Viewer for feature layers (hosted and ArcGIS Server feature layers), provided the layers are configured to support time animation.
Tip:
Play the Time-enable a layer video for more information about enabling time on layers in Map Viewer.
Verify time data in a layer
You can determine whether a layer in a map is time-enabled by referring to the REST endpoint.
To verify time data in a layer, complete the following steps:
- Confirm that you are signed in and, if you want to save your changes, that you have privileges to create, update, and delete content.
Note:
You can explore maps, add and configure layers, and more without signing in. To save your work, sign in before creating a map. - On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Layers
to open the Layers pane. - Browse to the layer that contains time data, click Options
, and click Show properties. - In the Properties pane, click Information, and click the item to open the item page.
- On the Overview tab, scroll to the Layers section, and click the name of the layer to open its item page.
If the layer contains temporal data, a Time settings option is included in the Layers section.
Enable time on layers
You can set time properties on feature and imagery layers in ArcGIS Pro before you publish a feature layer, imagery layer, or map image layer (map service) to ArcGIS Online. You can configure these time-enabled web layers to display time animation when you add them to Map Viewer. If you have sequential data in which each field represents a separate time, you can configure time series animation to show a progression of events over time.
You can also publish hosted feature layers that include temporal data and enable time on them from the layer's item page. This allows you and your organization (if you share your feature layers) to use the temporal data to create time-enabled maps.
To enable time on hosted feature layers, the hosted feature layer owner or an organization administrator can follow these steps:
- Open the item page for a hosted feature layer that contains temporal data.
- On the Overview tab, scroll to the Layers section, and click the name of the layer to open its item page.
- On the layer's Overview tab, click Edit
under Time settings.The Time settings window appears.
- Check the Enable time check box.
- Choose specific events in time or time ranges with a start and end time to record the time data.
- Choose the field or fields in the data.
Note:
Supported date and time field types include the following:
- Date
- Date only
- Timestamp offset
To learn more about supported field types, see Date and time fields in ArcGIS Online.
Note:
When working with time ranges with a start and end time, you must select the same field type for both Start time field and End time field.
- Click OK.
When this hosted feature layer is added to Map Viewer, time animation is enabled.
Configure time series animation
You can also enable time on certain layers by configuring a time series to create animations from sequential temporal fields. A time series can be applied to data in which each field corresponds to the value of a given feature at a specific point in time. For example, if you have population data by year for municipalities throughout a region, you can use a time series to visualize population change over time.
Note:
You can also configure time series animation using the Time series ArcGIS Arcade expression builder in the Arcade expression editor window.
To configure a time series, complete the following steps:
- Confirm that you are signed in and, if you want to save your changes, that you have privileges to create, update, and delete content.
Note:
You can explore maps or scenes, add and configure layers, and more without signing in. To save your work, sign in before creating a map or scene. - In Map Viewer, open the map containing the layer or add the layer directly.
- In the Layers pane, click the layer to select it.
- On the Settings (light) toolbar, in the Properties pane, under Time, click Time series with field values.
- In the Time series with field values pane, click Add time series.
- In the Configure time series with field values window, click Add fields, and in the Select fields pane, check the check box next to one or more fields in the list, or click Select all; optionally, filter fields in the list using the search bar, and click Done when you are finished.
Note:
To configure a time series visualization, the data should be structured as a wide table in which each row represents a static feature with a fixed location, such as a country boundary or a city. The table should have two or more fields, or columns, that represent the same data attributes at different points in time for each feature. Field names should refer to a specific attribute and a specific point in time at regular intervals, such as sequential months or 10-year intervals.
For example, a layer containing city locations in which each row represents a city with the following field structure could be used to configure a time series visualization:
- CITY_NAME
- POPULATION_1990
- POPULATION_2000
- POPULATION_2010
- POPULATION_2020
- To configure a time series on the selected fields, do the following:
- Under Time period, select the length of time to which each field corresponds, and specify the start date to match the date of the first field you are using for the time series animation.
- Under Time interval, choose the value that matches the interval between the fields in the data.
- Under Time unit, choose a unit for the interval frequency.
- Click Generate to create the time series field-date correspondence.
- Optionally, under Display name, provide a name of the time series.
- Click Done to save the time series and to return to the Time series with field values pane.
- Optionally, click Options next to the time series and do any of the following:
- Click Delete to delete the time series.
- Click Duplicate to duplicate the time series.
- Click Edit to edit the time series in the Time series with field values pane.
- Click Apply to time slider to set up the time slider with the corresponding time range and interval.
- Optionally, click Add time series, and repeat steps 7 through 11 to create an additional time series.
- Configure time slider options in a map as described below, or see View time maps (Map Viewer) to view your time series animation.
Tip:
Once authored, a time series can be used to apply styling and to configure pop-ups and labeling. When configured, styling, pop-ups, and labels will update with the time slider.
Set the map time zone
You can set the time zone of a map to customize how date and time are displayed in places such as pop-ups and tables.
To set the time zone, complete the following steps:
- Confirm that you are signed in and, if you want to save your changes, that you have privileges to create, update, and delete content.
Note:
You can explore maps, add and configure layers, and more without signing in. To save your work, sign in before creating a map. - In Map Viewer, open the map containing time-enabled layers or add layers to a new map.
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Map properties
. - Under Time zone, do one of the following:
- Select Device time zone to display the date and time using the time zone set for the device used to view the map.
- Select Specific time zone to display the date and time according to the time zone selected by the map author.
- Select Data's time zone to display the date and time based on the time zone that has been defined for the layer. No adjustments are made to the display of date information.
Note:
Options to configure time slider settings are disabled when using this time zone option.
Tip:
To view the time zone set for the map, click Time zone label
.
Configure time slider options in a map
To configure the time slider options to customize how time-enabled layers are displayed in a map, complete the following steps:
- Confirm that you are signed in and, if you want to save your changes, that you have privileges to create, update, and delete content.
Note:
You can explore maps or scenes, add and configure layers, and more without signing in. To save your work, sign in before creating a map or scene. - In Map Viewer, open the map containing time-enabled layers or add layers to a new map.
- Click Time
to show the time slider. - On the time slider, click Time slider options .
- Make any of the configurations described in the subsections below.
- On the Contents toolbar, click Save and open
, and click Save to save the time settings to the map.
Start and end points
Under Time slider mode, choose one of the following to specify the time period for the time-enabled layer, and choose values for Start date, Start time, End date, and End time:
- Show current interval—Show data that is within a set time range.
- Show features progressively—Progressively show data that is within a set time range. The start time is always pinned to the start of the slider.
- Show data at a time instant—Show data that falls on a single instant in time.
Time intervals
Specify how much data to display as time passes. Choose Length of one interval to specify the count and units for each time interval, or choose Total time divided into equal steps and specify the number of intervals.
Playback position
Choose whether to start the time animation at the beginning of the time span or at the time position last saved with the map.
Play rate
Set the speed at which the time intervals play. You can move the slider to increase and decrease the speed.
Enable time-based layer visibility
For all layers, you can set a specific time period during which the layer is visible.
To enable time-based layer visibility, complete the following steps:
- Confirm that you are signed in and, if you want to save your changes, that you have privileges to create, update, and delete content.
Note:
You can explore maps or scenes, add and configure layers, and more without signing in. To save your work, sign in before creating a map or scene. - In Map Viewer, open the map containing the layer, or add the layer directly.
- In the Layers pane, click a layer to select it.
- On the Settings (light) toolbar, click Properties
. - Under Visibility, turn on the Time-based layer visibility toggle button, and under Start and End, set the date and time ranges to define the time period during which the layer is visible.
Turn off time animation
You can turn off time animation on maps containing time-enabled layers.
To turn off time animation on a web map, complete the following steps:
- Confirm that you are signed in and, if you want to save your changes, that you have privileges to create, update, and delete content.
Note:
You can explore maps or scenes, add and configure layers, and more without signing in. To save your work, sign in before creating a map or scene. - In Map Viewer, open the map containing time-enabled layers or add layers to a new map.
- On the Contents (dark) toolbar, click Layers to open the Layers pane.
- Select the time-enabled layer.
- On the Settings (light) toolbar, click Properties .
- Under Time, turn off the Time-based feature visibility toggle button
- Repeat the previous steps for each time-enabled layer.