Essential temporal data and visualization vocabulary

There are some key terms you will encounter when managing and visualizing temporal data in ArcMap, ArcGlobe, or ArcScene. These are identified below.

Term	Description
Time-enabled layer	A layer that will display data based on the current time of the time slider. A layer can be time enabled by setting the time properties on the Time tab of the Layer Properties dialog box.
Time instant	Refers to a single point on the timeline.
Time stamp	The time attached to a piece of data (feature, image, and so on). The term stems from the idea of stamping a document with the time it was received. The same general concept holds true for data. The time stamp could be a single instant or a time interval.
Time step interval of the time-enabled layer	Identifies how frequently the data was collected or updated. The time step interval of a time-enabled layer is used by the time slider.
Time step interval of the time slider	The duration after which the map, globe, or scene will be refreshed to display the data valid at that time.
Time extent	The period of time between two points on a timeline.
Time extent of temporal data	The period in time within which the data was collected. Basically, it is the distance between the minimum and maximum time stamps in your time-enabled layer.
Time extent of the time slider	The period on the timeline used by the time slider to display data. This is the cumulative time extent of all time-enabled layers in the map, globe, or scene.
Time window	The period of time that the user wishes to visualize with the time slider.
Temporal reference	A temporal reference provides information about the time zone and rules for daylight saving time. Setting a temporal reference allows you to visualize datasets recorded across different time zones that may or may not have rules for daylight saving time.