Temporal Data Formats

When preparing time series data for importing into SpaceStat, you will need to create the date and time stamps that can be read by the software.

Dates

SpaceStat accepts dates as integers formatted as: YYYYMMDD, YYYYMM, or YYYY. This is consistent with the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata standards for representing dates. If you are preparing your data file in a spreadsheet, you can use either a numeric format or a date format column for this.

You can also import dates as MM/DD/YYYY in string or text format in a DBF.

Times

SpaceStat accepts times as integers formatted as HHMMSS or strings (alphanumeric) formatted as HH:MM:SS (so 10:01 AM is 100100 or 10:01:00 and 10:01 PM is 220100). This is equivalent to the "local time" specification in the FGDC standard, but without milliseconds. The hours must be expressed military style, with a 24 hour clock. See time format in DBF for more information.

Arbitrary (unitless)

You may use your own format for tracking time. SpaceStat accepts arbitrary times as integers and orders them in numerical order.