Phoenix Shadow Map

COVERAGE: Downtown Phoenix, Tempe and south Scottsdale. More of the Valley is planned.

Phoenix Shadow Map finds the walking route with the least sun.

Most map apps give you the fastest way. In Phoenix, the fastest way can mean ten minutes of direct sun at 108°F. Heat is not an inconvenience here — it is the reason people stay indoors from June through September. This app computes where buildings and street trees actually cast shadows at the hour you are travelling, then routes you through them.


WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT

Real shadows, not guesses. The app carries building footprints and heights across 238 square miles of the central Valley and projects their shadows for the exact sun position at your chosen time.

Built for a low-rise city. Phoenix is not a canyon of towers — the tallest building in the covered area is about 384 feet. Half the usable shade comes from mid-rise blocks and street trees, so the app draws tree canopy as shade too, instead of pretending downtown is Manhattan.

Shade you can actually walk in. "Prefer shade" balances shade against distance. "Shade only" caps how far you ever walk in unbroken sun, so you are never exposed for long stretches even when the total is similar.

Indoor links count. Air-conditioned concourses and covered walkways are part of the network, so a route can duck inside instead of tracking the sunny side of the street.

Check before you go. Play back the day's shadows hour by hour and see when your route turns shady. Sometimes leaving 40 minutes later changes everything.


FOR DOG OWNERS

Asphalt in the midday sun reaches around 158°F while shaded ground stays near 109°F. Paws can be burned in under a minute. The app estimates surface temperature along your route and warns you when a walk should be postponed, kept to grass and shade, or is fine as it is.


WHAT YOU GET

• Walking, cycling and driving routes across the covered area
• Shade percentage and feet of sun for every route
• Longest unbroken stretch of sun, so you know the worst part
• UV index and feels-like temperature in sun and in shade
• Turn-by-turn voice guidance that follows your position
• Shade networks and shade-casting buildings drawn on the map
• Search that runs on your device — 48,000 places, no network needed
• Save your home and favourite places
• Distances in feet and miles, temperatures in °F
• English, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic


HOW IT WORKS

Pick a destination — Chase Field, the Phoenix Convention Center, the Heard Museum, Arizona State University, the Desert Botanical Garden, or anything you search for. Your starting point defaults to where you are, so one tap is usually enough. The route appears with its shade breakdown, and voice guidance starts as soon as your position is fixed. Drag the time slider to see the same route at any hour of the day.

Building data comes from OpenStreetMap. Weather and UV come from MET Norway. Shadow geometry is computed on your device from the sun's real position, so the map keeps working when the network does not. Arizona does not observe daylight saving time, and the app follows Arizona's clock wherever your phone happens to be set.


IMPORTANT

UV values and surface temperatures are estimates for clear-sky conditions. They are guidance for planning a walk, not medical advice. In extreme heat, use your own judgement and check on children, older companions and pets.

Building heights come from open map data and are not complete everywhere. Where a height is missing the app assumes a low building, so a street may be shadier in reality than the app shows — it errs towards telling you there is less shade, not more.

Coverage is downtown Phoenix, Tempe and south Scottsdale. Outside it you can still explore the map and try a demo route.

Recent changes:
• Fixed "no route found" for some destinations — start and end points now snap to the connected street network instead of a disconnected fragment.
• Fixed voice guidance not starting in demo mode.
• New title screen artwork and app icon.