What is a time-aware layer?

Time-aware layers store information about the changing state of a dataset over time. Time-aware layers allow you to step through periods of time, revealing patterns and trends in your data. For example, you can accomplish the following using time-aware layers:

• Track hurricane paths and other meteorological events.
• Explore historic patterns in data through time, such as population or land-use changes.
• Monitor changes in well production or status.
• Map the progression of a wildfire or flood.
• Visualize the spread of disease over time.

All time-aware layers have a TimeExtent property that defines a time range, that is a start date and end date. There are also time field properties, those field(s) indicate at which time(s) the feature applies. Time-aware layers may have additional properties such as the time step interval (or tick) and the whether the data is cumulative or not. The time step interval indicates the frequency at which the data progression should be viewed, for example data can be viewed for each day or for each year.

All time-aware layers will display features for the time extent defined by the map. The TimeExtent property on time-aware layers cannot be set explicitly since it is defined by the map, feature, or image service. After publishing a map or feature service containing time-aware layers, you can work with either the ArcGISDynamicMapServiceLayer or ArcGISFeatureLayer class respectively to view changes in data over time.

Working with time-aware layers

You add time-aware ArcGISDynamicMapServiceLayer and/or ArcGISFeatureLayer 's to the map in exactly the same way as you would add those non time-aware layers to the map. The simplest way to work with time-aware layers is to use the TimeSlider control in the Toolkit because it handles the process of updating the map's time extent for you. Alternatively, you can use the API to build applications that perform temporal queries, filter layers using time definitions, and set the map's time extent.