Shadeside: Shade Walk Routes

Same walk, less sun. Shadeside ranks walking routes by how much of the way stays in shade, and shows where the shadows will fall an hour from now.

Most maps answer one question: what's the fastest way there? On a hot day that's the wrong question.

Shadeside ranks walking routes by how much of the way stays in shade. Same destination, often the same distance — but along the side of the street where the buildings are working for you.

HOW IT WORKS • Real sun position for your location and the exact minute, computed on device with the NOAA algorithm. No network required, anywhere on Earth. • Real building heights and street trees from OpenStreetMap, projected into real shadows and drawn on the map. • Shade is measured across the width of the sidewalk, not down the center line of the street — because the center line is where nobody walks.

WALK • Apple Maps walking routes, re-ranked: shadiest instead of shortest. • The route line is colored by shade, so you can see which stretches are exposed before you set off. • Tells you which side of the street to keep to.

TRANSIT • Which side of the bus, tram or train to sit on to stay out of the sun. The rule is the opposite of walking: with no buildings to help, you want the seat away from the sun, screened by the vehicle itself.

TIME • Drag the time slider to see where the shade falls in an hour, at five, at sunset. • After dark everything is in shade — the map knows, and dims with the sun.

OFFLINE • Sun position is computed offline, worldwide. • Download a city and its buildings, trees and footpaths come with you. No signal needed.

WHO IT'S FOR People who walk in hot cities. Parents pushing strollers. Anyone whose skin, medication or condition makes direct sun something to plan around. Runners and dog walkers caught at the wrong end of the day. Anyone visiting somewhere southern in August.

Shadeside is a map, not sun protection and not medical advice. It shows you where the shadows are — the rest is up to you.

Building and tree data © OpenStreetMap contributors.