2603 votes Vote

Show shadow line from an object of X height

User selects the height of an object - maybe representing a tree or a building. SunCalc calculates the length of the shadow and displays it from the location (it would be the opposite of the orange sun position line). This would be extremely useful in determining areas that will be in the sun or shade. Check the application Ephemeris for similar calculations http://www.dl-c.com/dl.html

Jim Dantin , 07.04.2010, 23:36
Response from the site administrator
Mourner, 09.04.2010
Thanks, I'll consider this! Seems useful, the only hard thing is making a good simple UI for this.
Idea status: under consideration

Comments

Jim Dantin, 08.05.2010, 22:26
UI suggestion: First, a checkbox to "Show Shadow from marker location". Then, a vertical slider for object height -- make it simple with feet on one side and meters on the other. A logarithmic scale would allow selection of heights from approximately 1 meter to 10,000 meters (slightly more than the height of Mt. Everest) Also allow text entry of exact object height with radio button selection of feet/meters. Thanks
Mourner, 08.05.2010, 22:34
Thanks for the detailed suggestions, very helpful!
Steve, 23.10.2013, 09:26
This has my vote - I would like to be able to define a building - so location breadth, width & height and then see what it will shade at any time of year by moving the date/time sliders
Delores Steinhauser, 01.09.2014, 14:36
I agree. Site is good, but for landscaping, you need to know the shade cast by trees and houses, etc.
Ian Ramsey, 24.01.2015, 19:38
very good idea
Muhammad Tareen, 29.07.2018, 08:28
yes very useful idea, a must need for people who want to build something of their own, closer to nature.
Branko, 25.09.2015, 10:21
To stay really user-friendly, I was thinking of just a single 'tree' object that you can move around on the map.

An (urban) alternative is to draw a 3-point rectangle, slide the height. Then move the object as required.

By default the size of a mature christmas tree. About 20m high, 10m diameter. The height is of course crucial to be adjustable.
theacademe, 18.10.2011, 18:15
Maybe at first, somewhere indicate the ratio, based on the angle of the sun (which is depicted graphically but not numerically in the trajectory) at the time selected. Ex. "At the current time of day, the shadow would be .79 times the height of an object." The vector is the reverse of the sun's position, of course.

Later, add the ability to add a flag or pole and graphically draw the shadow.
Frankly, 05.04.2012, 03:07
This would be great. There is a new construction coming up near me and I need to know how much sun the new building will block.
Brent, 19.04.2012, 14:02
Great idea for helping landscape designers or the average gardner.
Brian, 11.07.2012, 19:53
I love this idea, but please be careful not to clutter the app too much with improvements. It's nearly perfect as it is, and one of the things I like about it is how direct and concise it is. This improvement seems very worthwhile though.
Sean Mckenzie , 02.11.2012, 09:26
Excellent idea! I'd just like to say that this is a great tool. It's taken some time to find it but I'm glad I kept up the search, thanks.
Colin Paterson, 25.11.2012, 11:56
Hi,

Did you ever develop this to give the shadow information!!! brilliant app by the way but i would really like to see what shadow the house we are looking at gives off douring the sun cycle.

thanks

Colin
Jlachiusa, 27.12.2012, 15:16
Yes. A feature like this would be a great help in deciding what plants would do well in certain areas of the yard based on sun exposure. Something where you could creat a basic template by square footage and then add the dimensions of basic building structures, walls and trees to see shadow formation thru out the day. If it worked well, I would pay for an app like this, which I don't often do.
Lance, 17.02.2013, 06:01
This is exactly the feature I'm looking for to give me an idea of feasibility for installing solar panels, and what trees I need to trim to avoid shading them if any. I'm sure a lot of other people would appreciate it for similar reasons. I would certainly pay for such a feature as would a lot of solar panel installation firms.
Joe Cocuzzo, 01.03.2013, 16:56
Just had solar panel sales guy here and he used compass and pointing to try to show how trees would shade part of roof, but we had a hard time figuring out whether he was correct about the sun track, your application did very well to show he was correct, but if we had a way to put an object of estimated height and width and see the shadow on top of satellite imagry that would be extremely useful.

The solar installer does come back (if you sign contract) and put some kind of fish-eye camera on the roof and they figure out sun track/position and shading issues from that, but in the meantime having a shade prediction tool would be a very handy addition to your very helpful application. Thanks.
Mo, 17.03.2013, 15:37
Would love the shadow app...just like other users said, add height and width and then SunCalc would project shadow on map. We need it to show shadow of house on pool area of a house we might buy. It's 500 miles away so we cant just walk over and check it out. Plus we need to see the sun in Dec so SunCalc is our answer!

We checked out FindMyShadow but it's too confusing to build the house and can't be projected on a google map like SunCalc.
Robert Hayden, 03.04.2013, 13:21
This would be a fantastic addition to the app. It's actually what I was using the app data for, to create a shadowing simulation for a proposed window awning. Excellent that it's underway.
Adam Goodpasture, 30.04.2013, 21:12
+1 for a shadow depiction that varies with object height (slider and/or text box)
Lguisito, 23.05.2013, 14:07
This would be great for home gardening and landscaping purposes! though, I have a hard time understanding how to figure out the shadow with a ratio :( but, I will keep googling. Maybe there is a way you can add a calculator or converter? :D
rk, 08.09.2013, 11:02
This is a really useful app, from a home buyers point of view an object showing shadow would be great.
Well done
Marco Concetti, 19.10.2013, 03:40
it is exactly what people need most to determine where to chose an apartment location.
Pete, 19.10.2013, 04:06
Can the surrounding elevation data (of the mountains) from Google not be combined with the data from the altitude of the star at the given time of year?

I want to work at what time of year my house will be in the shade, due to the surrounding mountains casting shadows.

Thanks. Great otherwise for simply seeing where the sun is during the day.
Jeremy, 24.11.2013, 10:08
Brilliant suggestion. Simplest thing to start might be to allow a simple rectangle or circle for a house/tree to be placed, with its height. Then the shadow can be projected as the time is slid along.
ML, 05.01.2014, 19:03
Great program! It is very useful and easy to use. I do like the idea if showing shadow lines so as to see how trees, mountains, and buildings will affect a site.
Thanks,
ML
BobMac, 20.01.2014, 01:34
This app is great. But I'd also like to see the sun blockage (shadow) detail to determine plantings and locations.
Alex, 04.02.2014, 21:15
Awesome App. I would like to see a little information area (just like about About Suncalc) that shows the angle of the sun, and the shade length an object of size 1 would cast. I think this needs to be in a separate area because multiple overlays (shadow length vs position of sun throughout the year) would just be confusing.
HenryHT, 16.03.2014, 07:46
Dear Vladimir - This is a Great App, I hope you are still working on improvements. I would really like to be able to see when a particular point (e.g. of where I am thinking of building a house) is in the shadow of near by hills.
Minoo, 09.04.2014, 23:30
Agreed, being able to see the shadow would be amazing
Mo, 03.07.2014, 08:47
FYI : http://pintsinthesun.co.uk/#48.87415727267426/2.294318675994873
Jan de Boer, 27.08.2014, 21:33
This would be a derived product of direction and elevation of the Sun - asked elsewhere
Tobias, 23.09.2014, 09:59
I came here because i was searching for exactly that feature!
rzan, 05.10.2014, 16:53
Another request for the same. It would be brilliant if you could add this. I've found the app really useful for house hunting.
Louie, 26.10.2014, 08:02
Thanks for an awesome app., the shadow line feature would be a very helpful tool for estimating light & shade effects between sunrise & sunset on properties in any setting whether it's amongst city sky scrapers or in the mountains.
trevor, 21.11.2014, 18:03
Great idea! I was thinking the same thing, added a similar suggestion before finding this one.
Mauro, 30.12.2014, 01:55
If a date & time is known of a video, then calculate the probability (Poisson) of the region/sector where the video was filmed. Example, rate of change ( height & intensity) of shade per squared mile.
Jennifer, 14.03.2015, 19:28
I would like to see the amount of shade from trees and buildings as well. Have renovated a field for my horses and am building a run-in. To keep wind from going in the run-in it would need to be placed with the opening toward the south. This would mean that 4 hours per day would have direct sunlight going into the Run-in. I'd like to be able to see how much sunlight goes in and if there is adequate shade still in the run-in.
No Body, 25.03.2015, 09:15
http://www.suncalc.org/#/49.495,11.073,5/2015.03.25/10:14/1

have fun! ;)
Neale, 06.06.2015, 22:48
Your implementation of shadow line is fantastic. The UI is so so simple to use and understand. And the ability to input the height of the object for the calculation and display of shadow is exactly what I wanted to do. Simply brilliant. Thank You.
Chris, 26.08.2015, 01:00
It would be nice if this integrated with Google's topographical maps to show shadows of geographical features (Mountains, etc)


Thanks, I love the site!
raya, 30.09.2015, 19:24
HI, I Really need that website to show the shadow of any object I can create on the site . could you please send me that web if there is



thanks
Bill, 20.10.2015, 03:11
I could use, for example, "degrees" from due east to determine sunrise for any date. I use this to investigate ancient stone features.

It do not need a graphic, simply a data field with the info.

Thanks,
Bill
Mike, 17.02.2016, 08:16
Brilliant site, thank you so much! Shadow lines would be an insane feature! Very cool.

I came to see if anyone suggested a circle that scales with the map to show how far a typical person can see on the horizon. I'm planning an event at a beach 6 months from now, expecting a sunset over the ocean. Alas, your site showed that at some proposed sites at that time of year the sunset is over land mass! A first-world-problem, yes, but why not swing for the fences?!

Other proposed sites have a land mass in the path of the sun (a curvy california coastline) but the obstructions are a few kilometers away, so the question is can you even see them from the specified vantage point? A visit to the site may answer all questions but it may not, I trust your math over my eyesight.

Googled: at 6 ft, a person can see ~3 miles on the ocean horizon. Thats 5 km.

At the level of your web-sites' map with the "1km" map key, a 7.5cm radius from the epicenter is the max visibility of a 6 ft person at ocean horizon (on my system: Mac OSX 10.9.2, Safari 7.0.3)

Some of my proposed sites will work!

Main-landers will have to deal with topography for this to work properly, but when you finish the insane job of making the worlds shadows dance at your fingertips, this will be easy.

Cheers and thank you again.
Minesh Patel, 30.04.2016, 03:55
I want information of where Sun will rise throughout the year and where will its shadow come. I want to design homes so as to utilise maximum natural Sun light till noon and maximum shadow after that. To make home energy efficient.
This, and more, 28.05.2016, 16:37
Additionally, creating overhangs that shelter sun-facing windows in the summer while being short enough to allow sun to hit the windows during the winter.
Scott, 28.07.2016, 19:13
Totally what I was going to suggest. I don't know how hard it would be, but can you get your hands on the Google 3-D map information? I wonder if the height info is even a part of that or if it's just a 2-D image that they make look 3-D?
CHRISTIAN D HEGE, 25.12.2016, 19:05
This is a GREAT suggestion. I found your site, looking for the position of the sun at a certain time of day, certain time of year, etc., for a graphic novel script. A length-of-shadow tool would be a great item for illustrators, especially when they want to show the passage of time over an afternoon/evening!
Natheer, 13.06.2017, 09:14
This is a great idea especially for those who live in hot countries and searching for a land to buy to build there house.
Scott Latham, 17.07.2017, 18:29
This would be extremely helpful from a photography stand point. However, I LOVE this site. I use it all the time.
Cristina, 18.02.2018, 13:44
It would be great to add the shadow function!! so you can have an idea of the light you get in a particular house (or building) through the day
Iain Logan, 24.04.2018, 01:46
I found this site looking for the aspect angle of the sun for a project I'm currently doing.
But found much more, and the shadow photos would be great.
How else can I convince my CEO his proposal for the positioning of his solar panels won't work, without me coming off as some kind of smart-arse dick to him?
JayTee, 05.06.2018, 20:24
I’ve just discovered this site and it’s just what I wanted - well done to the maker. The shadow coverage was an immediate ‘Yes Please’, but as this as been on the list for about 8 years, I’m wondering whether the site is maintained. Could the administrator put some notice on the home page regarding the currency of and future of the page as there seem to be lots of votes for the various suggestions. Thank you
mbuchsba, 20.06.2018, 18:40
This is an excellent website. I was planning to teach the grandchildren a little astronomy and the website is great.
It was easy to align the footprint of my house with the iphone compass and the website.
I voted for the height of the shadow...I have a single stem cactus 1 meter high and the shadow exactly aligns with the website, so the height of the shadow for time of day would be of interest.
Kay, 09.09.2018, 07:24
Yes, shadow due to landscaping or buildings would be a great addition to this application. Hope you can pull it off... And if you do please notify the (many) persons asking for this :)
ilias, 24.02.2019, 10:37
great site! but i am also missing the shadow feature...
FV panely, 08.07.2022, 13:21
Jistě nebudu sám, kdo by chtěl umístit na střechu fotovoltaiku a zjistit, jestli sousedův dům, strom atp. nebude v určitém čase stínit. Bohužel nevím, jak na to.

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