AI Agent for QGIS
Ask AI Agent in QGIS for the shade and sun exposure of your site at any hour, from its elevation model.
Free plan, no credit card.
AI AgentFrequently asked questions
How do I find the sun path over my house?
Search your address or tap My location. The dotted arc is today's path of the sun around your house, from the sunrise line to the sunset line; the closer the arc to the pin, the higher the sun. Move the time slider to see where the sun stands at each hour, and pick 21 June and 21 December to see the highest and lowest paths of the year.
How is the sun path different in summer and winter?
In the northern hemisphere the summer sun rises in the northeast, climbs high and sets in the northwest, so it shines on every side of a house. In winter it rises in the southeast, stays low in the south and sets in the southwest. At 40° north the noon sun stands about 73° high in late June and about 27° high in late December. South of the equator it is the other way round.
How long is a shadow?
A shadow is the object's height divided by the tangent of the sun's elevation. With the sun 45° high a shadow is as long as the object; at 30° it is 1.7 times as long, at 15° about 3.7 times, and it grows without limit near sunrise and sunset. The card gives the length for a 2 m object and the ratio for any height.
When is golden hour?
Golden hour is when the sun is low, below about 6° of elevation: just after sunrise and just before sunset. It lasts about an hour at mid-latitudes, less near the equator and much longer in high-latitude summers. The card gives its end in the morning and its start in the evening for the chosen date.
About this tool
This map shows where the sun stands for any place, date and time. From the pin it draws the direction of sunrise and sunset, the sun's direction at the chosen time, today's path of the sun (the closer the dotted arc to the pin, the higher the sun) and the shadow of a 2 m object at its real length. Search an address, type coordinates, use your location or click the map, then move the time slider or pick a date: the card gives the sun's elevation and azimuth, sunrise, solar noon, sunset, day length and golden hour in the local time of the place, with the shadow length for any height. Download the day's positions every 10 minutes as CSV, or copy a link that reopens the same place, date and time.
How the sun position is computed
- The sun's place in the sky comes from the standard astronomical formulas for its position from the date, the time and the point's latitude and longitude, accurate to well under a minute of time.
- Times are shown on the clock of the place, daylight saving included, from a time zone map of the world. Sunrise and sunset are when the top of the sun meets a flat horizon; golden hour is when the sun is below 6° of elevation.
- The shadow length is the object's height divided by the tangent of the sun's elevation, on flat ground. Hills, trees and buildings around the point are not taken into account.
Data and limits
Everything is computed in your browser: no place, date or time leaves the page. Solar positions follow the formulas of the SunCalc library (BSD-2-Clause). Time zones come from timezone-boundary-builder (ODbL) through tz-lookup, which is coarse within a few kilometres of a border and at sea; the zone used is named next to the time. Refraction is counted at sunrise and sunset only, and the ground is taken as flat.