Sun and Shade Checker
Which side of the tower gets the sun, and when? Find any building in the UAE, pick a date and drag the time across the day to watch the shadows of every neighbour move. Click the balcony you are thinking about and see whether it sits in sun or shade at that hour, or how many hours of direct sun it gets that day. The table beside the map gives the hours by facing for the date, so you can judge a unit before the viewing. Register once, free, and it opens right here.
Aspect is a price, not a preference
Two identical units in the same tower can run very different cooling bills and feel like different homes. A west-facing living room in Dubai takes the sun from early afternoon to sunset in summer, which is the hottest part of the hottest days; a north-facing one never sees it. Developers price the view, not the aspect, so a buyer who checks the sun buys the comfort for free.
Test the two extremes, 21 June and 21 December. A unit that works on both works all year. Then walk the afternoon in the shadow view to see which neighbouring towers, present or rising, put your balcony in shade and at what hour. Bring the answer to the viewing.
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Questions buyers ask
Why does the side a unit faces matter so much in the UAE?
Because the sun here is the biggest single cost and comfort variable in a home. A west-facing glass wall takes the full late-afternoon sun in July and pushes the cooling bill up; a north-facing one stays cool but sees no direct sun all winter. A south face gets the low winter sun all day and only the high midday sun in summer, which is why it is often the best-balanced aspect. The tool shows you the exact hours by facing for any date.
Where do the building shadows come from?
From OpenStreetMap building footprints and their tagged heights, drawn by the ShadeMap engine for the sun position at the date and time you pick. Where a height is missing we assume a storey count, so a shadow can be shorter or longer than the real thing; treat the picture as a strong guide and the facade table as the geometry that cannot lie.
Can I check a specific unit?
Click the map on the balcony or window you care about and the panel says whether that spot is in sun or shade at the chosen time, or how many hours of direct sun it gets that day. Floor height is not modelled: a high floor clears neighbours that shade the lower floors, so read the answer as the podium-level worst case.
Which times of year should I test?
The 21 June and 21 December buttons are the two extremes: the highest and lowest sun of the year. If a unit works on both, it works all year. The 21 March and 21 September buttons are the average days in between.