How to get a time zone from a location using latitude and longitude coordinates?

Question

Given the latitude and longitude of a location, how does one know what time zone is in effect in that location?

In most cases, we are looking for an IANA/Olson time z

Answer 1

If you prefer to avoid a web service, you can retrieve that information from the browser like this:

var d = new Date();
var usertime = d.toLocaleString();

//some browsers / OSs provide the timezone name in their local string
var tzsregex = /\b(ACDT|ACST|ACT|ADT|AEDT|AEST|AFT|AKDT|AKST|AMST|AMT|ART|AST|AWDT|AWST|AZOST|AZT|BDT|BIOT|BIT|BOT|BRT|BST|BTT|CAT|CCT|CDT|CEDT|CEST|CET|CHADT|CHAST|CIST|CKT|CLST|CLT|COST|COT|CST|CT|CVT|CXT|CHST|DFT|EAST|EAT|ECT|EDT|EEDT|EEST|EET|EST|FJT|FKST|FKT|GALT|GET|GFT|GILT|GIT|GMT|GST|GYT|HADT|HAEC|HAST|HKT|HMT|HST|ICT|IDT|IRKT|IRST|IST|JST|KRAT|KST|LHST|LINT|MART|MAGT|MDT|MET|MEST|MIT|MSD|MSK|MST|MUT|MYT|NDT|NFT|NPT|NST|NT|NZDT|NZST|OMST|PDT|PETT|PHOT|PKT|PST|RET|SAMT|SAST|SBT|SCT|SGT|SLT|SST|TAHT|THA|UYST|UYT|VET|VLAT|WAT|WEDT|WEST|WET|WST|YAKT|YEKT)\b/gi;

//in other browsers the timezone needs to be estimated based on the offset
var timezonenames = {"UTC+0":"GMT","UTC+1":"CET","UTC+2":"EET","UTC+3":"EEDT","UTC+3.5":"IRST","UTC+4":"MSD","UTC+4.5":"AFT","UTC+5":"PKT","UTC+5.5":"IST","UTC+6":"BST","UTC+6.5":"MST","UTC+7":"THA","UTC+8":"AWST","UTC+9":"AWDT","UTC+9.5":"ACST","UTC+10":"AEST","UTC+10.5":"ACDT","UTC+11":"AEDT","UTC+11.5":"NFT","UTC+12":"NZST","UTC-1":"AZOST","UTC-2":"GST","UTC-3":"BRT","UTC-3.5":"NST","UTC-4":"CLT","UTC-4.5":"VET","UTC-5":"EST","UTC-6":"CST","UTC-7":"MST","UTC-8":"PST","UTC-9":"AKST","UTC-9.5":"MIT","UTC-10":"HST","UTC-11":"SST","UTC-12":"BIT"};

var timezone = usertime.match(tzsregex);
if (timezone) {
    timezone = timezone[timezone.length-1];
} else {
    var offset = -1*d.getTimezoneOffset()/60;
    offset = "UTC" + (offset >= 0 ? "+" + offset : offset);
    timezone = timezonenames[offset];
}

//there are 3 variables can use to see the timezone
// usertime - full date
// offset - UTC offset time
// timezone - country

console.log('Full Date: ' + usertime);
console.log('UTC Offset: ' + offset);
console.log('Country Code Timezone: ' + timezone);

In my current case it is printing:

Full Date: ‎27‎/‎01‎/‎2014‎ ‎16‎:‎53‎:‎37 UTC Offset: UTC-3 Country Code Timezone: BRT

Hope it can be helpful.