[postgis-users] Importing timezone shape files - newbie

[Scott Chapman]

Hi all,

I'm using PG 9.1.3 with pgAdmin 1.14.2 on Windows 7 Home Edition to
get familiar with PostGIS and TimeZone data.
PostGIS 1.5.3 is installed and the postgis database was created by the
installer.

My immediate end goal is to be able to take a Lat/Lon and query PG to
find the correct time zone for the location.

I installed the "PostGIS Shapefile and DBF loader" plugin in pgAdmin
but it is greyed out in the Plugins menu.

I found this site with the shape files:

http://efele.net/maps/tz/world/

It has two shape files:

"The tz_world shapefile captures the boundaries of the TZ timezones
across the world, as of TZ 2011b. The geometries are all POLYGONs, and
a TZ timezone will sometimes have multiple polygons. There are about
28,000 rows.

The tz_world_mp shapefile captures the same boundaries. The geometries
are either POLYGONs or MULTIPOLYGONs, and there is a single geometry
for each TZ timezone. There are 394 rows."

First question is, Which shape file to use.  I don't understand the
difference between the two and the merits of each.

Secondly, clues on how to import this data correctly.

Any other pointers are welcome!  I'm not sure yet, how to do the SQL
to make the query.

Thanks!
Scott