[tz] Proposal for a modern 'Collapsed' Namespace

[Guy Harris]

On Oct 11, 2012, at 6:59 PM, Walter <walter.stanish at gmail.com> wrote:

> Please find attached my proposal

...which has a suffix of .tab and a media type of application/octet-stream, neither of which make it very readable by many mail user agents.

It's actually just plain text (with an unnecessary <pre> before it), so here it is:

# This file is in the public domain.
# Author: Walter Stanish <walter at stani.sh> (2012-10-12)
#
# This file collapses multiple time zones in to a reduced
# number of modern "time zones" (in the natural language
# semantic sense) within the 'Collapsed/*' namespace for 
# user modern interface display purposes.
#
# The sole focus here is on achieving a pragmatic solution 
# for end users in normal modern use cases, in a manner
# that is compatible with the existing format and 
# maintenance of the time zone database.  Any and all 
# other considerations are implicitly dismissed.
#
# Users MAY be presented with items from the collapsed
# list as the primary means of timezone selection or 
# display, though given the option to select from the
# complete database (including the component entries) 
# belonging to should they wish.
#
# ------------------------------------------------------
#  NOTE: THE 'Collapsed/*' NAMESPACE PURPOSEFULLY DOES
#        NOT CONSIDER HISTORIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
#        COMPONENT TIME ZONES AND AS SUCH IS NOT
#        RECOMMENDED FOR SYSTEMS INTENDING TO CALCULATE
#        20TH CENTURY HISTORIC DATES AND TIMES IN A 
#        TIMEZONE DEPENDENT FASHION.
# ------------------------------------------------------
# 
# Rationale:
#  - Users often need to select the name of a timezone,
#    for example when installing an operating system or
#    working with global event data.
#  - To date (2012), the time zone database has supplied
#    only (A) a list of 'Region/Name' style identifiers
#    that are not appropriate for user presentation for
#    various reasons; and (B) zone.tab, a list of 
#    single geographical coordinate pairs for the each
#    of the above, with concise descriptions.
#  - Even if the zone.tab file may assit autoselection
#    an appropriate user timezone in some cases, it 
#    still does not solve the display problem for the
#    resulting timezone, once it has been selected.
#  - None of the above provide user interface oriented
#    human language descriptions of modern "timezones"
#    with which the user may be familiar.
#  - For example, the "Beijing time" that is considered
#    standard in mainland China is presently split in to 
#    no less than five regions that, whilst historically 
#    unique, in any modern use case remain completely
#    irrelevant.  Furthermore, the most common use
#    case for non-standard time within China (the 
#    informal "Xijiang time"; actively used and
#    referred to as 'Wulumuqi time' by Chinese press
#    and government) is not adequately presented AT ALL
#    as an alternative to standard Beijing time in
#    the current database (though it is discussed under
#    both the 'Asia/Kashgar' and 'Asia/Urumqi' entries).
#  - China represents some huge percentage of today's
#    internet and the time zone database has failed
#    to provide an appropriate solution for those users.
#  - There are sure to be other regions of the world
#    with similar time zone nomenclature and/or 
#    legacy data situations to that of China.
#  - There is no reasonable basis for translation of
#    time zone descriptions at this time (zone.tab is
#    certainly inadequate).
#
# Format:
#
#  Collapsed <CollapsedZoneName> <TargetZone>
#   Define a new zone within the modern 'Collapsed/*' namespace.
#   The <CollapsedZoneName> may be referenced as
#   'Collapsed/<CollapsedZoneName>' and will assume the properties
#   of the pre-existing time zone <TargetZone>.
#
#  CollapsedName <CollapsedZoneName> <language> "<Title>"
#   Define the title of a collapsed zone within the modern, 
#   'Collapsed/*' namespace for a given IANA language tag.
#
#  Collapse <SourceZone> <CollapsedZoneName>
#   Provide a 1:1 mapping from a traditional time zone through to
#   the modern 'Collapsed/*' namespace.
#
#  CanCollapse <SourceZone> <CollapsedZoneName>	[<Priority>]
#   Provide a potential option within a 1:n mapping from a
#   traditional time zone through to the modern 'Collapsed/*' 
#   namespace.  Optionally, specify a <Priority> ranging from
#   0-255 that should be used to order the options presented
#   to a user in order of most to least likely mapping.
#   Higher priorities mean a greater likelihood that an option
#   is the correct assumption.

# Collapsed/BeijingTime - Beijing Time (all of mainland China)
Collapsed	BeijingTime	Asia/Shanghai
CollapsedName	BeijingTime	en	"Beijing time"
CollapsedName	BeijingTime	zh-hans	"北京时间"
CollapsedName	BeijingTime	zh-hant	"北京時間"
CollapsedDesc	BeijingTime	en	"As used officially across mainland China."
CollapsedDesc	BeijingTime	zh-hans "全国正式使用时区"
CollapsedDesc	BeijingTime	zh-hant	"全國正式使用時區"
Collapse	Asia/Harbin	BeijingTime
Collapse	Asia/Shanghai	BeijingTime
Collapse	Asia/Chongqing	BeijingTime
CanCollapse	Asia/Kashgar	BeijingTime	100
CanCollapse	Asia/Urumqi	BeijingTime	100

# Collapsed/XinjiangTime - Xinjiang Time (aka 'Wulumuqi time')
Collapsed	XinjiangTime	UTC+06:00
CollapsedName	XinjiangTime	en	"Xinjiang time"
CollapsedName	XinjiangTime	zh-hans "新疆时间"
CollapsedName	XinjiangTime	zh-hant "新疆時間"
CollapsedDesc	XinjiangTime	en	"As used unofficially throughout Xinjiang."
CollapsedDesc	XinjiangTime	zh-hans	"新疆非正式使用时区"
CollapsedDesc	XinjiangTime	zh-hant	"新疆非正式使用時區"
CanCollapse	Asia/Kashgar	XinjiangTime	50
CanCollapse	Asia/Urumqi	XinjiangTime	50