Available with Spatial Analyst license.
The Solar Radiation analysis geoprocessing functions enable you to map and analyze the effects of the sun over a geographic area for specific time periods.
You can perform solar radiation analysis for a landscape or for specific locations in several ways.
The following geoprocessing functions provide enhanced functionality or performance and support analysis on the Earth and Moon.
- The Feature Solar Radiation geoprocessing function is used to calculate the incoming solar insolation for input points or polygon features relative to the surface on the Earth or Moon.
- The Raster Solar Radiation geoprocessing function is used to calculate the incoming solar insolation for every raster cell of a digital surface model for the Earth or Moon.
The following geoprocessing functions provide landscape analysis for the Earth and are designed specifically for local landscape scales (up to approximately 1 degree):
- The Area Solar Radiation geoprocessing function 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.
- The Points Solar Radiation geoprocessing function 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.
- The Solar Radiation Graphics geoprocessing function creates graphic representations of the visible sky (viewshed map), the sun's position in the sky across a period of time (sun map), and the sectors of the sky that influence the amount of incoming solar radiation (sky map) for diagnostic purposes. Conceptually, these maps are used internally during analysis to calculate the total amount of solar radiation for a particular location or area.
The following topics provide background information on the theoretical aspects of these geoprocessing functions as well as some examples of their implementation.
- Learn more about solar radiation analysis
- Learn about modeling solar radiation
- Learn about how solar radiation is calculated
The following table lists the available geoprocessing functions and provides a brief description of each.
| Geoprocessing Function | Description |
|---|---|
Derives incoming solar radiation from a raster surface. | |
Calculates the incoming solar insolation for input points or polygon features relative to the surface (ground) on the Earth or the Moon. | |
Derives incoming solar radiation for specific locations in a point feature class or location table. | |
Calculates the incoming solar insolation for every raster cell of a digital surface model for the Earth or the Moon. | |
Derives raster representations of a hemispherical viewshed, sun map, and sky map, which are used in the calculation of direct, diffuse, and global solar radiation. |