ShadeMap

ShadeMap turns a familiar map into a time machine for sunlight. Pick a place and date, move through the day, and the model estimates where terrain, buildings, and mapped trees cast shade. Daily and annual exposure layers make it useful for scouting photographs, gardens, walks, patios, and picnic spots.

What is ShadeMap?

The clever bit is not merely drawing the sun's direction; ShadeMap combines that position with elevation and mapped objects, then paints the likely shadow onto the geography beneath it. Time becomes a map control. A morning ridge can swallow a valley, a building can cool one side of a block, and an afternoon plan can be compared with another season without leaving the desk. The help pages extend the idea beyond the main clock: daily and annual sunlight layers, custom shapes with assigned heights, and compatible elevation uploads support deeper experiments. That power comes with visible seams. The ordinary data is estimated, missing building heights receive a default, and objects outside the current viewport can disappear from a calculation. It is best used as a question-sharpener before an on-site check, not as a digital sundial sworn in under oath.

What you can do there

• Search and inspect a location
• Change the date and time to simulate shadows
• Compare daily and annual sunlight layers
• Draw custom objects or upload compatible elevation data

Why we picked it

It makes time spatial. Instead of reading a sunrise table and mentally arguing with every roof and ridge, you get a moving hypothesis directly on the map. That is immediately useful, oddly hypnotic, and honest enough to reward readers who also inspect its limitations.

How to get the most from it

Start with a place you know, zoom far enough out to include nearby terrain and tall obstructions, then move the date and time while watching the shadow boundary. Compare instant shade with daily or annual sunlight layers. For an important plan, check the model against the actual site before relying on it.

Good to know

JavaScript, WebGL, and meaningful GPU work are required, so older hardware may lag. Default shadow data is approximate: coverage changes, missing building heights may be replaced by a 3.1-meter assumption, and off-screen objects are omitted from a view's calculation. Premium measured data may be offered in some areas, and the separate shop discloses affiliate links. No rendered interaction, location-specific accuracy test, or screenshot was completed in this review.