Timeline & Temporal Playback
The timeline bar at the bottom of the viewer controls time-based data playback, letting you animate layers that change over time.
Timeline bar
The timeline bar sits at the bottom of the viewer. It shows the current simulation date and provides playback controls.
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Date picker | Set the current clock date. Hidden when a live CZML stream is active. |
| Play / Pause | Starts or stops time animation. |
| Reset to start | Jumps back to the beginning of the time range. |
| Loop toggle | When enabled, playback restarts from the beginning when it reaches the end. |
| Speed presets | 1×, 10×, 60×, 600×, 3600× — controls how fast time advances. |
| Current timestamp | Shows the exact current date and time. |
| Collapse button | Minimizes the timeline bar to save screen space. |
Live streams
When a live CZML stream is active, a pulsing LIVE badge appears on the timeline bar. The date picker is hidden because the timeline follows real-time data.
A Realtime toggle enables automatic refresh of wind data every 15 minutes.
Temporal filtering
When one or more layers have temporal (time-based) data, additional controls appear:
- Time window slider — defines the visible time range on the timeline
- Window width presets: 1h / 1d / 1w / 1m / 1y — quick shortcuts for common time ranges
- Animate button — automatically steps the time window forward through the data
- Temporal layer legend — coloured blocks below the scrubber show which layers have data in each time period
Features outside the active time window are hidden from the map.
Configuring temporal fields
To enable temporal filtering on a layer:
- Open the layer in the Layers panel and expand its settings.
- Go to the Temporal section.
- Select which attribute field contains the time/date data from the dropdown. Auto-detected temporal fields appear at the top with a confidence percentage and "Auto-detected" badge.
- Choose the date format: ISO 8601, Unix seconds, or Unix milliseconds.
- The detected date range and feature count are shown after selection.
- Click Clear to disable temporal filtering for the layer.
The timeline is most useful with datasets that have a date or timestamp field — for example, construction phases, historical events, or sensor readings. Enable temporal filtering on the layer first, then use the timeline to step through time.
Temporal filtering requires the layer to have an attribute field with date/time values. Layers without temporal data are not affected by timeline playback.