Time and number conventions

Time Zone

In order to avoid the confusion that can come from various time zones, the dates and times of observations or events will be given in UTC.

System times are in UTC as a default, though logged in users may use the my preferences tab to have the system report their local zone time. Regardless of individual user's time settings, system times are stored in UTC.

Time Format

Times will be given in 24 hour format in the format HH:MM:SS. Leading zeros will be used to ensure a 2 digit length for each of hours, minutes and seconds. Seconds need not be reported.

Date Format

The system provides dates in the format DD Month YYYY. Users should endeavour to provide dates in a similar format. this avoids the confusion of dates such as 08-07-09 (is it 09 July 2008, 08 July 2009, 07 August 2009, 07 September 2008?).