Temporal data represents a state in time in ArcGIS Pro. You can create a point, 3D object, or building scene layer that stores datetime values for each feature. For example, when each building was constructed and demolished or the last inspection date of trees in a city. Time information can be captured in coordinated universal time (UTC) or local time. UTC is the universal time, which is equal to Greenwich mean time.
Scene layers store datetime values based on the ECMA ISO 8601 standard to ensure the datetime values can be interpreted by clients independently of their local time zone. The format is native to the web browser and best suited to store datetime information for the web. For example, you can create a scene layer for a city in Germany and set the datetime zone for the attribute values to be shown in the German datetime format.
Create time-enabled scene layers
Depending on the scene layer source, you can store the datetime values as local time with a UTC offset or UTC time depending on your geoprocessing environment time zone settings. The following table lists the various methods of creating a scene layer and the time settings that can be set on the scene layer.
Note:
Datetime with offset, date only, and time only fields are not currently supported when creating scene layers.
| Scene layer creation method | Time setting | Resulting scene layer |
|---|---|---|
| Create a 3D Object Scene Layer Content | Local time unless the time zone is set in the geoprocessing environment settings. | All datetime values in the scene layer are stored in the time zone defined by the geoprocessing tool. |
Share a web scene layer and configure the scene layer properties to cache locally. | The default setting of UTC and it cannot be changed. | All datetime values in the scene layer are stored in UTC time. |
Share a web scene layer with an associated feature layer and configure the scene layer properties to cache on the server or online. | The default setting of UTC or configure a feature service time zone setting. | All datetime values are stored in UTC converted from the settings for the feature layer configuration. The time layer properties cannot be modified after sharing the web scene layer with an associated feature layer. |
Display time-enabled scene layers
You can view values in date fields by clicking a feature and viewing the attributes in pop-ups. Depending on your data, you can change the pop-up properties to display the date fields in the date and time format you prefer. For example, in Germany, the date is often represented in day, month, year separated by a period. In the United States, you display the date in month, day, year separated by a backslash. Time values display as local time without offset or UTC if the user specified UTC in the time zone environment when creating the scene layer package.
If a preferred time zone is defined, the datetime values of the layer display the preferred time zone. You can set a preferred time zone when creating a scene layer with an associated feature layer and configuring the scene layer properties in the Sharing pane.
To use the time slider, you can configure time settings in the Time page in the layer properties. For building scene layers, you can enable time on the parent building scene layer and all category layers inherit the time properties. Alternatively, you can enable time on an individual category layer and have the specific category layer participate in the time slider. For example, you have a building scene layer where the foundation is always rendered but the walls display at certain time ranges as you move forward in the construction process. When category layers have different time properties, a new option Category layers have varying time properties set is enabled on the parent building scene layer.
Scene layer created with ArcGIS Pro 3.1 and later
You can create a scene layer in ArcGIS Pro 3.1 and later and the datetime values are stored according to the ECMA ISO 8601 standard. Time values are fully supported in the time slider, pop-ups, definition queries, and symbology.
The scene layer with an associated feature layer allows you to combine the visualization capabilities of a scene layer with the data management capabilities of the feature layer. For example, you can maintain the scene layer by editing  the geometry and attributes. You can share a scene layer or feature layer to ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 and later, and the default time storage is in UTC. This allows a conversion of the UTC time to the local time of the device displaying the web layer. The format of a date field cannot be changed after creating a web scene layer with an associated feature layer. Datetime values are stored as UTC and displayed in a client based on the preferred time zone setting when sharing the web scene layer.
Note:
Ensure that you have enabled time layer properties on the feature class prior to sharing if you want to use the time slider with a web scene layer.
Scene layer created prior to ArcGIS Pro 3.1
A scene layer created prior to ArcGIS Pro 3.1 does not have datetime values stored in ECMA ISO 8601 and has limited capability in definition queries, symbology, and the time slider. Use the Upgrade Scene Layer tool to time enable your scene layer by specifying a Date Format and Time Zone. For example, if you live in the Netherlands and format dates as the day before the month, you can specify DDMMYYYY in the Date Format parameter.
Note:
The Project and Clip tools do not output scene layer packages that are time enabled. Use the Upgrade Scene Layer tool together with these tools.