Hi-Res Geochron with CityTime 4

Great app upgraded with 320 x 320 map and alarms

by Shawn Barnett

Posted May 23, 2003

First reviewed in 1999, CityTime by CodeCity Software remains the best geochron for the Palm OS, and now it's ready to move with all of us who are migrating to OS 5. The new map is so fine it feels like the Tungsten T is only a window to a large room with a map on the wall. The Zire 71 and Tungsten C's incredible screen only intensifies the sensation. If you don't know what a Geochron is, it's a map that plots where the sun is shining at any given moment. Because Earth is a big ball tilted on its axis (Flat-Earthers please: no email), the plot changes as the seasons change, with the days getting longer and shorter according to where the observer is on the planet. Normal clocks don't tell you whether the sun is up in a given area, and the further North or South you get, the more the duration of days will change.

CityTime will now show you this information numerically as well as graphically, by city and date. For example, in Seattle on July 23, 2003, the Sun will rise at 5:36 am and set at 8:54 pm, and the day will last 15 hours and 18 minutes. Whereas in Los Angeles on the same day the Sun will rise at 5:58 am and set at 8:00pm, lasting only 14 hours and 2 minutes. Which tells you that if you want more suntan time, you might want to book a flight for Los Angeles instead of Seattle. The moon, by the way, on that same day will be 41% waxing, also offered in the same CityTime dialog box. Good to know if you're also planning a romantic dinner and walk on the beach. A distance scale can give you rough estimates of travel time between two cities based on average speed, and what time it will be at a given time in another city can also be calculated with ease.

Users can set four onscreen clocks, and tapping anywhere on the screen reveals the name, day, and time of the nearest city for quick reference.

Aviators, astronomers, and others who'd need to know can set the twilight plot (shown at left in lighter gray) to be Civil, Nautical, Astronomical, or Ionospheric. You can also reset the map's center by Atlantic, Pacific, or centered on a particular city. A new button overlay also allows the first press of any of the four main application buttons to first launch CityTime, then the main app.

I am a major fan of CityTime and keep it on every device I carry. US$14.95.

-Shawn Barnett

www.codecity.com.au

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