"}],"short_description":"Timelines in ArcGIS AllSource complement the map by visualizing temporal data and allowing for spatiotemporal analysis. ","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Time is the sequential progression of events from the past into the present and beyond to the future, an idea known as the Arrow of Time. Time isn\u2019t something anyone can hold or see to measure its count. For that reason, the devices and methods used to measure time have improved throughout the course of history. The first measurements of time can be seen as early as the Bronze Age with the invention of the lunar calendar, a 12-month calendar based on the cycles of the moon. Soon we would see the solar calendar, created by following the location of the sun in the sky. The method of tracking the sun influenced the sundial, the first device used to record time by using the sun, a dial, and a shadow cast by a pointer. Further advancements would lead to devices such as the pendulum, water clock, and hourglass, which allowed us to account for time more accurately and broke us free of our celestial limitations. However, nothing can happen in time that doesn\u2019t happen in space and vice versa.<\/p>\n
The natural world is made up of space, which has three dimensions: length, width, and depth, with time being known as the fourth dimension. What device do we have in the modern world that can account for space and time and all the data in between? Timelines allow you to visualize your temporal data, giving you a sense of when in time an event has occurred. By combining timelines and their functionality with the map in ArcGIS AllSource, you can visualize space, time, and your data unlike ever before. Therefore, we aim to prove Aristotle half right\u2014 perhaps everything does grow old and crumble under the power of time, but with timelines, not everything is forgotten to it.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
You\u2019ll begin creating a timeline by adding your data to the project. In this case, you will investigate Rochester Police Department\u2019s crime data from 2011 to 2018 to determine when crimes happened, what the statute violations were, and if there are any trends among these crimes.<\/p>\n
Before you can begin adding data to a timeline, you must time enable a layer or stand-alone table with a date or time field. To time enable your data, do the following:<\/p>\n
Now that your data has been time enabled, you can create your timeline and add this data.<\/p>\n
The timeline view adds your data and creates the timeline. You can now visualize when in time each data point lies and connect this visualization with the map\u2019s view and sense of place, allowing for spatial and temporal analysis.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":1899102,"id":1899102,"title":"Initial Timeline","filename":"Initial-Timeline.png","filesize":208989,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Initial-Timeline.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/allsource\/analytics\/create-your-first-timeline-in-arcgis-allsource\/initial-timeline","alt":"Timeline and map of Rochester PD 2011-2018 with a point feature selected","author":"331272","description":"","caption":"Timeline of Rochester PD 2011\u20132018 crime data with the Time Scale set at Full Extent. ","name":"initial-timeline","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":1899062,"date":"2023-04-06 21:27:39","modified":"2023-04-06 21:33:15","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":600,"height":501,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Initial-Timeline-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Initial-Timeline.png","medium-width":313,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Initial-Timeline.png","medium_large-width":600,"medium_large-height":501,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Initial-Timeline.png","large-width":600,"large-height":501,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Initial-Timeline.png","1536x1536-width":600,"1536x1536-height":501,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Initial-Timeline.png","2048x2048-width":600,"2048x2048-height":501,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Initial-Timeline-557x465.png","card_image-width":557,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Initial-Timeline.png","wide_image-width":600,"wide_image-height":501}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
Now you can begin exploring, filtering, and understanding your timeline. After creating and adding data to your timeline, it is recommended that you use the Full Extent<\/strong> tool on the contextual Timeline<\/strong> tab. This shows the full extent of your data and displays it on the timeline. By using Time Scales<\/strong>, you can view your data in fixed units of time, the Time Scales<\/strong> options include the following:<\/p>\n In addition, you can choose to use the Rectangle Zoom<\/strong> tool located on the contextual Timeline<\/strong> tab. This allows you to click and drag to a specific extent along the timeline. However, you can also use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out on the timeline for a faster response. Using the Pan<\/strong> tool, you can move along the timeline to see past the current extent. Timelines also include four filtering controls to aid your analysis: Filter By Time<\/strong>, Filter By Selection<\/strong>, Filter By Extent<\/strong>, and Filter By Range<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Timelines can filter on definition queries. After analyzing the dataset, you notice the timeframe from 2011 to 2018 is too large to properly analyze. You assess that the years you need to analyze most are from 2016 to 2018. You also want to look at specific statute violations: aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle thefts. You will build a definition query to filter your data and timeline accordingly.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":{"ID":1899132,"id":1899132,"title":"Timeline and Map post definition query","filename":"Timeline-and-Map-post-definition-query.png","filesize":177235,"url":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Timeline-and-Map-post-definition-query.png","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/allsource\/analytics\/create-your-first-timeline-in-arcgis-allsource\/timeline-and-map-post-definition-query","alt":"Timeline and map of Rochester PD 2011-2018 with a definition query and point feature selected","author":"331272","description":"","caption":"Timeline of Rochester PD 2011\u20132018 with a definition query to show the years 2016\u20132018 and the statute violations of aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft.","name":"timeline-and-map-post-definition-query","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":1899062,"date":"2023-04-06 21:30:45","modified":"2023-04-06 21:32:48","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":600,"height":501,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Timeline-and-Map-post-definition-query-213x200.png","thumbnail-width":213,"thumbnail-height":200,"medium":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Timeline-and-Map-post-definition-query.png","medium-width":313,"medium-height":261,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Timeline-and-Map-post-definition-query.png","medium_large-width":600,"medium_large-height":501,"large":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Timeline-and-Map-post-definition-query.png","large-width":600,"large-height":501,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Timeline-and-Map-post-definition-query.png","1536x1536-width":600,"1536x1536-height":501,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Timeline-and-Map-post-definition-query.png","2048x2048-width":600,"2048x2048-height":501,"card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Timeline-and-Map-post-definition-query-557x465.png","card_image-width":557,"card_image-height":465,"wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Timeline-and-Map-post-definition-query.png","wide_image-width":600,"wide_image-height":501}},"image_position":"center","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" Timelines include an alternate mode in which you can split a single swim lane into multiple swim lanes that stack on top of each other. When in this mode, your features can be categorized into different swim lanes in a variety of ways. The first is to categorize by the feature\u2019s layer, but you can also split swim lanes based on values in the field of a layer or stand-alone table. To enable lanes, do the following:<\/p>\n Summary View<\/strong> complements Timelines<\/strong> by allowing the user to display their data as a histogram. This graph represents data along a temporal axis where you can specify the distribution of numerical data into ranges known as bins and allows for analytics on trends that may be occurring. To enter Summary View<\/strong>, complete the following steps:<\/p>\n The\u00a0Timeline<\/strong>\u00a0pane changes from a single lane of data into bins along the timeline that assemble data into groups based on time and category.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" In addition, by using Binning Timespan<\/strong>, you can control the amount of information in the timeline by selecting the timespan you want to be visualized in each bin on the timeline. To use Binning Timespan<\/strong>, do the following:<\/p>\n Here you can see an identifiable trend. In the months of July and August of the years 2016\u20132018, more crimes are committed of these violations than any other months of the year. Now you can investigate why and prepare for increased crime rates in the summer months.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":" To learn more, visit the\u00a0ArcGIS AllSource website.<\/a><\/p>\n To get more help with timelines, check out the ArcGIS AllSource<\/a> help documentation.<\/p>\n To download the data used in this blog see the RPD Open Data Portal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Banner photo by Bryan Goff<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n"}],"related_articles":"","card_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/card2.png","wide_image":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/banner.png"},"yoast_head":"\n\n
Stay afloat with swim lanes<\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
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\nThe timeline is updated to display data in separate lanes.<\/li>\nSummarize the view<\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
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Select timespan in each bin<\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"
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Related resources<\/strong><\/h2>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"