An overview of the Solar Radiation tools
Release 9.3 Last modified September 7, 2011	Print all topics in : "Solar Radiation (Spatial Analyst)"

You can perform solar radiation analysis for a landscape or specific location using two methods:

• Area solar radiation analysis is used to calculate the insolation across an entire landscape. The calculations are repeated for each location in the input topographic surface, producing insolation maps for an entire geographic area.




• Point solar radiation analysis is used to calculate the amount of radiant energy for a given location. Locations can be stored as point features or as x,y coordinates in a location table. Solar radiation calculations can be performed for specified locations only.

For diagnostic purposes, you can use the Solar Radiation Graphics tool to create graphic representations of the visible sky (viewshed map), the sun's position in the sky across a period of time (sunmap), and the sectors of the sky that influence the amount of incoming solar radiation (skymap). Conceptually, these "maps" are used internally during analysis to calculate the total amount of solar radiation for a particular location or area.

Learn more about solar radiation analysis

Learn about calculating solar radiation

Learn about solar radiation analysis equations

View solar radiation analysis sample applications

The following table lists the available solar radiation tools, provides a brief description of each, and identifies if the tool works in ArcToolbox, Map Algebra, or ArcObjects.

Tool	Description	ArcToolbox	Map Algebra	ArcObjects
Area Solar Radiation	Computes insolation for an area.	X
Points Solar Radiation	Computes insolation at specific locations.	X
Solar Radiation Graphics	Creates raster representations of the hemispherical sunmap, skymap, and viewshed map used during analysis.	X

Please visit the Feedback page to comment or give suggestions on ArcGIS Desktop Help.
Copyright © Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.