Applying a temporal offset to a layer

Prerequisite:

Before applying a temporal offset to a tracking layer, you must load a tracking layer into Tracking Analyst.

This procedure shows you how to offset a fixed-time tracking layer by entering an offset duration. A temporal offset can also be set by specifying a new start time for the tracking layer.

Learn more about temporal offsets

Steps:

1. Right-click the tracking layer you want to apply a temporal offset to in the Table of Contents. Click Properties to open the Layer Properties dialog box.
2. Click the Time tab. In the Choose temporal settings list box, click Temporal Offset.
3. By default, the No Temporal Offset button is selected if a temporal offset has not been applied to the layer before. Click the Use a duration to offset the data button.

   If you want to apply an offset by specifying a new start date for your tracking layer, click the Use a new start date to offset the data button and choose a new start date and time in the New Start Date drop-down list. If you want to erase a temporal offset that was previously defined for the layer, click the No Temporal Offset button.

4. Click either the Past or Future button following the Offset data into label to specify whether your data is offset into the past or the future.
5. Click inside the text box and type a numeric value for the duration of your temporal offset. Click the drop-down arrow and click an appropriate unit of measure from the drop-down list.

   For example, if you want to apply a temporal offset of one year to your data, type 1 in the text box and click Years in the drop-down list.
6. By default, the offset data is represented using a red color in the Playback Manager histogram. If you want to change the color, click the Color for offset line in histogram button and click the color you want from the drop-down menu.

   If you have selected a new color for the offset line, the new color should now appear on the Color for offset line in histogram button.

7. Click OK on the Layer Properties dialog box to apply the temporal offset and close the dialog box.
8. Click the Playback Manager button on the Tracking Analyst toolbar to open the Playback Manager. If needed, adjust the start and end times in the Playback Manager so that you can see your offset tracking data in the Playback Manager histogram.
9. Play back your tracking data using the Playback Manager. The offset data is now displayed on the map as if it existed at the offset times.

   Learn how to play back temporal data using the Playback Manager