[Talk-us] Timezones in USA?

[Bill Ricker]

> I would think the decision on whether time zone boundaries should be
> in OSM should center on what the costs and benefits of having them
> in OSM are.  The costs seem likely related to how they will be
> maintained and whether they will be kept up-to-date, and the
> benefits are tied to those who would find the data useful.
>

​Agreed. ​

​A compatible layer from elsewhere would be good enough ​

​for most purposes, and possibly better for many.
​

> (I should also note that the boundaries of tz database regions
> change substantially less often than the actual time rules for the
> regions.)
>

​Quite so.
   But they can change both without a political boundary move and will also
move if the boundary they follow moves.
And can be moved unilaterally, it doesn't take consent of the parties
formerly and prospectively on the other side of the moved boundary.
   ​So it's more fluid than we expect in similar meta-relations like
municipality (which likely has on-the-ground markings, not only road signs
but also surveyors benchmarks at corners) or boundary
<http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:boundary>=postal_code
<http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:boundary%3Dpostal_code> (which
typicall has no on-the-ground marking of boundary, only point markings at
the Post Office and Mail collection boxes will be labeled on the ground).

-- 
Bill Ricker
bill.n1vux at gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/n1vux
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