Sun and shadow
Every building around a home at its published height, and where their shadows fall at any minute of any month.
Before you startWhat you need and what this returns
- Use this when
- Before you choose a block, a floor or a facing — the west sun question, answered by looking.
- You will need
- A block or project. Then drag the clock or press play.
- You will get
- Every building around it at its published height, their shadows at that minute, and which floors of the home are in the sun.
Blk 1C Cantonment RdPrices and sales
- Shadow at 12:00 am
- The sun’s path
- No published height
Tap a building for its height and where that comes from, or the ground for its hours of sun that day. Drag to move; scroll or pinch to zoom.
Sun: astronomy for 1.2774°, 103.8417°. Heights: HDB blocks from HDB’s own outlines and floor counts × 2.8 m; other buildings from OpenStreetMap heights, or levels × 3 m; condominium towers with neither, the lowest floor of URA’s highest band sold × 3 m — a minimum. Buildings under 300 m² are not in the model. Streets: OneMap, © Singapore Land Authority. HDB Existing Building (HDB, data.gov.sg); floor counts from HDB Property Information (HDB, data.gov.sg), Singapore Open Data Licence v1.0, read 2026-09-26. Footprints © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. HDB storey counts: HDB Property Information (data.gov.sg), Singapore Open Data Licence. Read 2026-09-26.
What this shows, and what it leaves out
Each building is raised to its published height and its shadow is cast on the ground from where the sun is at that minute: height ÷ tan(altitude), away from the sun. The sun’s position is astronomy for this coordinate, good to a hundredth of a degree. A building whose height nobody publishes is drawn as a dashed outline and casts nothing.
The sentence about the home looks at its wall facing the sun most squarely, at five points along it, and asks how high the shadow of every building of known height in the sun’s line reaches up that wall. Floors are counted at 3 m each.
Trees, balconies, ledges and awnings are in no dataset and are not modelled. A shadow falling across a lower roof is drawn on the ground beneath it. Near the equator the sun is high for most of the day, so shadows are short at midday and long only in the first and last hours — which is when a west or east face takes its sun.
The afternoon sun, and what is approved in it247°–293°
Seen from here, the sun sets at 247° (WSW) in December and 293° (WNW) in June — a swing of 47°. A window on those bearings takes the low sun for part of the year only.
Today: below 15° at 05:56 pm, sets at 06:52 pm, from 268° (W).
Nothing with planning permission sits on those bearings within 400m, straight-line — not a guarantee of a view.
What this shows, and what it cannot
The bearings are astronomy: where the sun sets from this building, month by month. Near the equator the midday sun is almost overhead, and above 15° it is over the roof rather than through a window — which is why this is only ever about the last hour.
The decisions are URA’s filed planning permissions along those bearings. Permission is not a building: some are never started, and heights come from URA’s own wording, which states one about four times in five. An application not yet decided does not appear, and neither does anything beyond 400m. Joining the sun to what may be built is yours to do; bearings and distances are straight-line.
What it can and cannot see
- Heights it trustsHDB’s own outline and floor count for HDB blocks; an OpenStreetMap height or level count where one is tagged
- Heights it marks as a minimumA condominium tower with neither is given the lowest floor of URA’s highest band sold — a taller tower can cast a longer shadow than shown
- Heights it will not guessA building with no published height is a dashed outline. It casts no shadow here and blocks nothing
- What it leaves outTrees, balconies, ledges and awnings are in no dataset
What a higher floor is worth is the price side of the same question.