Finding Shade from the City Heat

If you need to find a shaded oasis in the concrete jungle of New York City then you can use Cornell University's new Tree Folio NYC interactive map. Tree Folio NYC uses data from a 2021 New York LiDAR survey and the 2015 New York Street Tree Survey to map the shadows cast by buildings and individual tree canopies in New York at any time of day and on any day of the year.

If you zoom-in to any street in New York on the map you can select any building or tree to view them in 3D and to visualize the shade that they cast at any point during day-light. Using the two time-controls at the bottom of the map you can select any day of the year and/or any time of day to view the areas that will be in shade at any selected time.

You can also hover over any tree on the Tree Folio NYC map to learn what species of tree it is, its trunk diameter, and its current health. According to Cornell University factors such as tree health and canopy size contribute to the amount of shade a tree will cast. The University was able to use a 2021 LiDAR survey to create a 3D picture of the tree canopy of 666,000 New York trees, from which it was then able to calculate the amount of shade cast by each tree for any time of day and any day of the year.

Also See

JveuxDuSoleil - an interactive map which simulates shadows from buildings throughout the day

ShadeMap - mapping the location of shadows from the sun for any time and day of the year

Shadowmap - view solar shadows anywhere on Earth at any time of the day or year