Dataset Card: Timezones

Overview

This dataset is a historical record of timezone rules and transitions. Each row captures a named timezone, the applicable country code (when available), the abbreviation in effect, the start time for that rule, the GMT offset in seconds, and whether daylight saving time is active.

Files

• timezones.csv: Main dataset.

Schema

Columns in timezones.csv:

Column	Type	Description
zone_name	string	IANA timezone name (e.g., Africa/Accra, Etc/UTC).
country_code	string	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code; empty for global zones like Etc/UTC.
abbreviation	string	Timezone abbreviation in effect (e.g., GMT, CEST).
time_start	integer	Start time for the rule as Unix seconds since epoch (UTC).
gmt_offset	integer	Offset from UTC in seconds (can be negative).
dst	integer	Daylight saving flag: 1 if DST, otherwise 0.

Suggested Use

• Reconstruct historical timezone offsets for a given zone_name.
• Validate timezone transitions in time-series pipelines.
• Generate offset-aware calendars and reports.

Data Quality Notes

• Some zones have many historical transitions; ensure you select the row with the greatest time_start less than or equal to the target timestamp.
• Abbreviations are not unique across zones or time periods.
• country_code can be empty for non-country-specific zones.

Known Limitations

• No explicit end time is provided for each rule; consumers must infer end time from the next rule for the same zone_name.
• Source and update cadence are not specified in this repository.

Source

Timezone data collected from https://timezonedb.com/.

License

MIT (see front matter at the top of this file).