This afternoon I wrote a program that I always wanted to have. Just a really simple way to move a clock around on a world map to find out what time it is anywhere in the world, without need to to do a Google search.
You can also use it the other way: If you already know what your local time is, you can use this to find out your exact longitude in the world.
It was surprisingly easy to implement, mostly because I tried to make it as simple as possible. The one little extra design flourish was that I change what the clock looks like depending on whether the local time is day or night.
Also, I decided to make time change continuously as you change your longitude, rather than using discrete time zones. Mostly because this way it’s more fun and dramatic. 🙂
I call it MapTime. You can check it out here.
Great idea!
It’s 4PM in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and the clock shows 4PM when hovered over North East USA, 9PM when hovered over The Netherlands. Can’t find a rationale for this …
That’s a bug. I’ve been working on it. Will keep you posted!
OK, I think I fixed the bug. Let me know whether it works properly for you now.
Would be interesting to compare your strictly longitude based clock to the actual time (e.g., China and India each have a single time zone across their bounds).
You fixed it, thanks!
Yep, Amsterdam is now half hour off, turns out we have Berlin time here.
Good points all!
If I were ever motivated to make it into something useful, rather than just something pretty and thought-provoking, I would add an option to switch to the use of official local time zones.