Automatic Timezone
AugmentCity automatically detects the local timezone based on where the camera is pointing and displays all times in that timezone. You do not need to configure anything — the timezone updates as you navigate the globe.
How it works
Whenever the camera moves, AugmentCity reads the geographic centre of the current view and looks up the corresponding IANA timezone (for example, Europe/Oslo or America/New_York). All time displays then use that timezone automatically.
This means the times you see in the timeline bar, shadow analysis, and sun clock always reflect the local time at your area of interest — the same way a planner working in that area would think about time.
Timezone data is loaded in the background after the page opens (approximately 1.5 MB). During the first few seconds after opening a project, times may briefly display in UTC before switching to the detected local timezone.
Timeline bar
The timestamp in the Timeline bar shows the current simulation time in the detected local timezone. The timezone abbreviation appears directly in the timestamp:
2026-03-28 13:00:00 CET
Hover over the timestamp to see a tooltip with the full timezone name and UTC offset:
Central European Standard Time, UTC+1
Shadow analysis
Shadow analysis lets you set a Day Start Hour and Day End Hour to define the period over which shadow coverage is calculated. These hours are interpreted as local time in the camera's timezone.
For example, setting 8:00–18:00 calculates shadow coverage between 8 am and 6 pm local time — regardless of where in the world the camera is pointed. There is no need to convert hours to UTC.
Sun clock
The 24-hour sun clock window is calculated from local midnight in the camera's timezone. As you navigate to a different region, the sun clock adjusts to reflect sunrise, solar noon, and sunset for that location's local day.
Fallback behaviour
In two situations the platform cannot determine a specific IANA timezone and falls back to a simpler rule:
| Situation | Fallback |
|---|---|
| Camera is over open ocean | A UTC offset is calculated from the camera's longitude (every 15° of longitude = 1 hour offset) |
| Camera altitude above 5,000 km (global view) | UTC is used |
In both cases the timeline bar shows the appropriate UTC offset or UTC as the timezone abbreviation.
Scenarios and timezone
Timezone is not stored as part of a scenario snapshot. When you restore a scenario, the camera position is restored and the timezone is derived automatically from that position — the same as when you navigate there manually.
This means timezone always reflects where you are looking, not where you were looking when the scenario was saved.
If you need to present shadow analysis for a specific city at a specific time of day, navigate to that city first, then set the hour in shadow analysis. The hours you enter will be treated as that city's local time.