Timeline

GeoNode can manage layers with a time dimension. Those vector layer may vary their data through time so it is useful to represent that variation on the map.

The MapStore based map viewer used in Geonode makes available the Timeline tool which allows you to observe the layers’ evolution over time, to inspect the layer configuration at a specific time instant and to view different layer configurations time by time dynamically through animations (see the MapStore Documentation for further details).

Warning

Timeline actually works only with WMTS-Multidim extension (WMS time in capabilities is not fully supported).

When loading a temporal layer into the map, the Timeline opens automatically.

The Timeline

On the left side of the Timeline panel you can set the time value in which you want to observe the data. You can type it directly filling out the corresponding input fields or by using the up/down arrows.

The Time Control Buttons

On the other side there are the buttons responsible for managing the animations.

In particular you can Play the animation by clicking , go back to the previous time instant through , go forward to next time step using and stop the animation by clicking .

The Animation Control Buttons

The Timeline panel can be expanded through the button.

The Expanded Timeline

The expanded section of the Timeline panel contains the Time Layers List and an Histogram which shows you:

• the distribution of the data over time

  

  The Timeline Histogram

• the Time Cursor

  

  The Time Cursor

You can show/hide the layers list by clicking (it is active by default).

Through the Time Range function you can observe the data in a finite temporal interval. Click on and set the initial and the final times to use it.

The Time Range Settings

Animations

The Timeline allows you to see the data configurations (one for each time in which the data are defined) through ordered sequences of steps.

As said before, you can play the resulting Animation by clicking the play button . The layer data displayed on map will change accordingly to the time reach by the cursor on the Histogram.

By clicking on you can manage some Animation Settings.

The Timeline Settings

You can activate the Snap to guide layer so that the time cursor will snap to the selected layer’s data. You can also set up the Frame Duration (by default 5 seconds).

If the Snap to guide layer option is disabled, you can force the animation step to be a fixed value.

The Animation Range option lets you to define a temporal range within which the time cursor can move. See the following gif to better understand how the Animation works or take a look at the MapStore Documentation.

The Timeline Animation