Mapping Tree Shadows

Ted Piotowski of ShadeMap fame has been experimenting with using LiDAR data to map tree shadows. Ted's ShadeMap currently simulates shadows caused by buildings and elevated land during the course of the day for any day of the year. However like most interactive shade maps his map doesn't show the shadows cast by trees.

Shadow maps tend to use elevation and building height data to simulate how shadows are cast by land and buildings depending on the angle of sunlight. Ted has now begun investigating how tree height and canopy cover can be extracted from LiDAR data. In this demo map you can see how trees cast shadows in the Seattle metropolitan area over the course of a single day.

You can read more about how this demo map was created in Ted's blog post Using LiDAR to Map Tree Shadows. You can also view links to other interactive shadow maps in the Maps Mania post Mapping in the Shadows.