[tz] What is LMTZ?

Guy Harris guy at alum.mit.edu
Wed Sep 18 20:05:42 UTC 2013


On Sep 18, 2013, at 12:19 PM, Alan Barrett <apb at cequrux.com> wrote:

> Anyway, I think I am starting to get the picture.  When you say "LMTZ" you mean something like "A standardised time that applies across a geographical zone of significant size."  I think it's confusing for you to refer to this time using a phrase that includes the words "Local Mean Time".

Yes.  Standard time *happens* to be local time for some locations, but it's *not* local time for most of the locations to which it applies, and the locations for which it happens to be local time are less interesting than the resulting time offset (if you really *want* the longitude for those locations, you can calculate it from the time offset).

Let's just call it "standard time" - or, if you want to distinguish between time that doesn't shift over time and time that does ("daylight savings time", "summer time", etc.), call it "standard time without daylight savings time" or "standard time without summer time" or "standard time without seasonal shifts" or....


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