Can Timezone Determination be Achieved without External Web Services?

Determining Timezone from Latitude/Longitude Without Relying on Web Services

Conventional methods of determining timezones often involve utilizing external web services like Geonames.org. However, for issues of stability and efficiency, an alternative local approach is sought.

The proposed solution is to utilize a local database of cities' latitude, longitude, and corresponding timezones. Geonames.org offers a database that can be downloaded and processed to generate a compact list mapping coordinates to timezones.

Subsequently, an R-Tree data structure can be employed to enable efficient lookups for the nearest city to a given coordinate. Once established, this database-tree combination allows for rapid determination of timezones for various coordinates.

By implementing this approach, timezone determination becomes independent of potentially unstable web services, ensuring reliability and enhanced performance.

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