Date observed different from date entered

Bug Reports
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1

Platform (Android, iOS, Website): Website

Browser, if a website issue (Firefox, Chrome, etc): Chrome Version 110.0.5481.180

URLs (aka web addresses) of any relevant observations or pages: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049144

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049167

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049143

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049139

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049138

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049137

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049136

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049135

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049130

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049129

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049128

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049126

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049142

Screenshots of what you are seeing:

observation_upload_error.PNG
observation_upload_error.PNG1920Ă—1020 127 KB

observation.PNG
observation.PNG1920Ă—997 131 KB

observation_edit.PNG
observation_edit.PNG1920Ă—1262 132 KB

Description of problem:

Thirteen observations from just after midnight on 2023-03-12 are displaying as observed on 2023-03-13.

Step 1: I tried to submit 13 observations at 2023-03-12 3:14 AM and received the error “date observed can’t be in the future”. I tried again with only 1 observation at 10:08 AM and received the same error. My account settings time zone was set to “(GMT-07:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada)”.

Step 2: I tried again the next day and successfully submitted 13 observations at “Mar 13, 2023 · 12:34 PM CDT”.

Step 3: Using https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/151049144 as an example, viewing the observation shows an observed date of “Mar 13, 2023 · 12:16 AM CDT”.

Step 4: Clicking on edit, the date entered displays “2023-03-12 12:16 AM”.

Trouble shooting: Removing the time and saving the observation will cause the observation to display the correct date of Mar 12, 2023, but I want to be able to keep the time on my observations. I also tried changing my time zone to “(GMT-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)”. The observed date still displays the same. Reuploading the observation with the new time zone setting does not fix the problem either. I tried changing the observed time from 12:16 AM to 00:16, but the displayed date and time stays the same.

I am assuming this may be due to daylight savings time, but I don’t understand why it would shift the observed date by a whole day rather than an hour. Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

2

Can you please send one of these photos to help@inaturalist.org?

3

Is the date/time set correctly on your camera?

4

I double checked and it seems like it. Date, time zone, daylight savings (turned off at the time), and time weren’t different.

5

Thanks for sending the photo, @scincus, I was able to replicate and I’m pretty sure it’s related to the daylight savings time change. If I change the location to a state that doesn’t observe DST (like Arizona or Hawaii), the correct date is shown.

I’ve made a github issue here: https://github.com/inaturalist/inaturalist/issues/3692

Time zones have been automatically determined by the observation’s location for about a year now.

1 Like
6

Thank you for your help, it’s much appreciated! I didn’t know that about the automatic time zones, good to know!