Solar calculations
SunCalc supplies astronomical solar positions and events. Solar Path Tracker normalizes the angles and formats them for the selected local timezone.
Purpose and accountability
About Solar Path Tracker
Solar Path Tracker turns a location, date, and local time into a readable sun path, solar angles, astronomical events, and educational worked examples. It is designed for first-pass daylight research before an on-site or professional assessment.
Last updated:
Why it exists
Make solar geometry easier to inspect
Questions about direct light usually involve several facts at once: where the Sun sits around the compass, how high it is, how the path changes through the day, and when the horizon events occur. The site keeps those facts together in one visual workflow.
The map and 3D scene support exploration. Terrain and buildings may appear as visual context where available, but those layers do not feed into the solar calculation. The calculators provide focused inputs and results, and the guides explain how to interpret that unobstructed astronomical baseline.
Who it helps
Typical use cases
- • Property researchers comparing morning, afternoon, winter, and summer exposure.
- • Photographers planning a low-angle light window and compass direction.
- • Designers and installers preparing observations before qualified site analysis.
- • Students and everyday users learning how azimuth, altitude, daylight, and shadows relate.
Sources and method
Where the results come from
Time and location context
Luxon applies IANA timezone rules. Coordinate-to-timezone lookup is handled locally with @photostructure/tz-lookup. Geoapify powers primary location search, TomTom provides an automatically limited backup, and OpenStreetMap provides map data and coordinate links.
Definitions and limits
The public Methodology documents timezone conversion, azimuth normalization, altitude and event definitions, golden-hour differences, polar handling, rounding, and excluded real-world factors.
Editorial ownership
Editorial and technical review process
Solar Path Tracker is an independently maintained tool for understanding sunlight. Guides are published under the Solar Path Tracker name. The site maintainer develops the tools, checks their examples and sources, and handles corrections sent through the Contact page.
Each worked example starts with a practical question and a fixed location, date and timezone. The maintainer recomputes the values with the site’s calculation engine, checks that the diagram, table and downloadable data agree, and explains what still requires an observation on site. External references are identified separately from calculations made here.
Reported discrepancies are reproduced from the submitted coordinates, local date and time, timezone, page, displayed output, and comparison source. A confirmed calculation or explanation error is corrected in code or content, covered by an automated regression check where practical, and released with the page's visible modified date changed only when that page actually changes.
Model limits remain visible even when a benchmark passes: the engine describes unobstructed astronomical geometry and does not calculate shading from terrain, buildings, vegetation, clouds, equipment, or a surveyed horizon. Any terrain or building shown in 3D is visual context only. For consequential decisions, compare the output with an independent source and a qualified on-site assessment.
Request a correction
Email solarpathtracker@gmail.com or use the Contact page. Include enough inputs to reproduce the result; private location details should be reduced to the precision needed for the check.
Maintenance record
Published features and checks
This record starts with a check of features already available on the public site. The date below is the verification date, not a reconstructed original release date. Future entries will describe substantive changes after they are published and checked.
· Public-site baseline checked
The house tool was checked with address selection, solar event results and seasonal comparisons. The published guides include calculated diagrams, fixed inputs, downloadable CSV evidence and model limits. These checks concern the website’s operation and reproducibility, not field measurements of a property.
Verification approach
How changes and examples are checked
Calculation tests cover known locations, timezone conversion, normal sunrise/sunset days, polar day, polar night, event availability, and angle normalization. Fixed guide examples are recomputed from the same engine rather than copied from unrelated tables.
Interface checks separately cover server/client date agreement, location search, manual coordinates, GPS on the main tool, date and hour selection, map and 3D interaction, calculator state isolation, structured data, sitemap entries, and disabled/enabled advertising modes.
A production HTTP response confirms routing and crawlability; a browser run confirms rendering and console behaviour. Neither is presented as proof of a particular physical horizon or device until that environment is actually tested.
For consequential work, users should compare the result with a reliable independent source and an on-site observation. Rounded web output is not surveyed precision or professional certification.
Contact and corrections
Report an error or ask a question
The dedicated Contact page explains what to include for a reproducible calculation discrepancy, software bug, privacy question, or general request. The historical /about#contact link remains available here for compatibility.
Public email: solarpathtracker@gmail.com
Go to Contact