Chicago (demonstration)

The north-facing city garden

DemonstrationEdit the plan

Exact location

When the bed by the back door is open for growing things

Each month read on its 15th · 2026

Works
Tight
No
Unanswered

Rings run from 6 am at the centre to 8 pm at the edge.

The bed by the back door cannot be read for growing things in any month yet.

All year: cannot be answered, because usable light has not been recorded here.

The same year as a table

Month	Open	Usable hours	What decides it
January	—	—	Usable light closes it
February	—	—	Usable light closes it
March	—	—	Usable light closes it
April	—	—	Usable light closes it
May	—	—	Usable light closes it
June	—	—	Usable light closes it
July	—	—	Usable light closes it
August	—	—	Usable light closes it
September	—	—	Usable light closes it
October	—	—	Usable light closes it
November	—	—	Usable light closes it
December	—	—	Usable light closes it

BuildingNot yoursCanopyShadow nowCan see inProposed

Reading at

8:34 PM·September

September 14 · The bed by the back door

The same day as a table

The same day hour by hour, in text.
Hour	Sun	Verdict	Confidence	Sun position
12:00 AM	dark	—	—
3:00 AM	dark	—	—
6:00 AM	dark	—	—
7:00 AM	shaded by East party wall	—	—	5° up, bearing 90°
8:00 AM	shaded by East party wall	—	—	16° up, bearing 100°
9:00 AM	shaded by East party wall	—	—	27° up, bearing 111°
10:00 AM	shaded by East party wall	—	—	36° up, bearing 125°
11:00 AM	shaded by The house	—	—	45° up, bearing 141°
12:00 PM	shaded by The house	—	—	50° up, bearing 162°
1:00 PM	shaded by The house	—	—	51° up, bearing 186°
2:00 PM	shaded by The house	—	—	48° up, bearing 208°
3:00 PM	shaded by The house	—	—	41° up, bearing 227°
4:00 PM	shaded by West party wall	—	—	32° up, bearing 242°
5:00 PM	shaded by West party wall	—	—	22° up, bearing 254°
6:00 PM	shaded by West party wall	—	—	11° up, bearing 265°
7:00 PM	shaded by West party wall	—	—	0° up, bearing 275°
9:00 PM	dark	—	—

Reading

For

Not full sun or shade. How much usable light actually arrives across a day, and whether the spot ever dries.

Something growing here

The bed by the back door does not work for growing things on a day like this, and how long it stays wet is why.

How long it stays wet is14h over— 24h against at most 10h
Roots and foliage sitting wet kill more plants than the wrong hardiness zone does.
Hours of direct sun is1.5h under— 0h against at least 1.5h
Some direct sun, even briefly, changes what is possible here.

Confidence medium (60%). Enough to point in a direction, not enough to buy against.

What this answer was built from

Use: Something growing here
Place: The bed by the back door
Weather: Humid continental, hot summers, real winters (scenario shape) (from a published source)
Method: A whole day in September, traced against the scene rather than read at one hour

Try a change Make a document

How well this place is described

Mapped

Quick
Mapped
Annotated
Measured

Shade, sky view and daily light are computed from real geometry rather than assumed. This is the rung at which the product starts telling you things you did not already know.

It cannot answer who can see in, and it cannot tell you whether the heights it is using are the real ones.

To reach Annotated

Photographs of the actual place: None annotated. A photograph is how a drawn height gets checked against a real one.
Photographs that know where they were taken from: No photograph has a position and a bearing, so what is marked on them cannot become a measurement.
Who can see in: Nobody marked. Privacy is a question about who sees in from where, and the product will not invent one.

What that buys: The privacy question, and a check on the geometry. Most inferred heights are wrong by enough to matter, and a photograph settles it in a minute.

Everything that was checked

Quick A place on the earth: Chicago (demonstration), with a time zone, which is what makes an hour an hour.
Quick Somewhere to read: 3 spots marked. A reading is a height at a place, and moving it moves the answer.
Mapped The things in the way: 4 objects drawn. The house counts, and so does the neighbour's.
Mapped What is underfoot: 3 of 3 readings sit on a mapped surface.
Mapped Where the property ends: Drawn, so the product can tell you when the cheapest fix stands on someone else's land.
Annotated Photographs of the actual place: None annotated. A photograph is how a drawn height gets checked against a real one.
Annotated Photographs that know where they were taken from: No photograph has a position and a bearing, so what is marked on them cannot become a measurement.
Annotated Who can see in: Nobody marked. Privacy is a question about who sees in from where, and the product will not invent one.
Measured Heights off a tape: 0 of 4 objects are measured. The remaining 4 are this product's own inference, so no figure here is a survey figure yet.
Measured Something checked against the day: Nothing has been checked against a real afternoon. The model is unopposed, which is not the same as being right.

What to measure next

Ranked by how far the answer moves, not by a checklist

1Who can actually see inSit in the chair
Sit where you actually sit and look around. Mark the one window or path you can see a person from. Until one exists, privacy is a question we are not answering rather than one that is fine.
This is not a refinement. Nothing can answer this question until somebody marks it.
Mark it on the plan
Currently assuming: nobody is overlooking this. Tested across one confirmed observer changes the whole privacy answer.
2What you are looking atSit in the chair
Mark the direction of the view worth keeping. Without it, every screening recommendation is optimising against nothing.
This is not a refinement. Nothing can answer this question until somebody marks it.
Mark it on the plan
Currently assuming: no view is being protected. Tested across one corridor changes what screening is worth doing.

What the place is doing at 8:34pm in September

Humid continental, hot summers, real winters (scenario shape).

What it feels like

cool

52.1°F

Felt temperature · 18 on the reporting scale

It feels about 14 degrees cooler than the air, near 52°F.

What is doing it

How much sky is overhead
−8.7°
Air movement
−1.2°

How this was worked out

Air: 65.7°F from Humid continental, hot summers, real winters (scenario shape), scenario (from a published source)
Radiant: 35.9°F mean radiant temperature
Method: Six-directional radiation integration, then ASHRAE operative temperature (from a published source)

Direct sun

after dark

0 W/m²

Beam reaching this point · 0 on the reporting scale

The sun is down.

How this was worked out

Sun: below the horizon
Traced: 0% of the beam reaches this point

Glare

none

out of 100

Nothing bright is in the line of sight at this hour.

How this was worked out

Facing: 11deg (assumed, not measured)
Assumed: Which way the seat faces has not been set, so glare is estimated from the open direction. (assumed, not measured)

Privacy exposure

Unanswered

No observer has been placed yet. Privacy is a question about who can see in from where, and until one is marked there is nothing to answer.

Wind

still

0.5 mph

Wind at the seat · 2 on the reporting scale

West party wall is taking about 37% of the wind off this spot.

What is doing it

West party wall
−0.3 mph

How this was worked out

Reference: 6.1 mph at 10 m from Humid continental, hot summers, real winters (scenario shape), scenario (from a published source)
At seat height: 0.8 mph before shelter
Shelter: 37% removed by what stands upwind

View

Unanswered

No view worth keeping has been marked, so there is nothing to weigh a screen against yet.

Surface heat

comfortable

65.7°F

Surface temperature · 7 on the reporting scale

The surface is running about 66°F.

How this was worked out

Surface: Planting bed
Method: Absorbed shortwave against air temperature, flattened by air movement (from a published source)

Wetness

dries-fast

1.1 x

Drying time against the open · 7 on the reporting scale

Still air here; moving air does a surprising amount of the drying.

How this was worked out

Drying rate: 0.000 in/hour here
Method: Penman combination equation on the radiation and air actually reaching this spot (from a published source)

Light after dark

Unanswered

No exterior or window light has been placed yet, so what changes after dark is unanswered.

Ask something else about this place

Who can see me?

The sightline, the smallest screen that closes it, and what it costs you in view.

What grows here?

Usable light across a day, not the label on the tag.

I already own this. Where should it go?

The same reasoning backwards: every spot you have marked, ranked for one plant.

What survives here?

What this exposure does to the things you leave out.

Dinner outside tonight?

The forecast, read against this specific seat.

What changes through the year?

The same layout in May, August and October.

What changes after dark?

Light, glare and who can see in once the sun has gone.

Everything on the plan, in text

Thing	Reading	Note
The house	36.1 ft	100 per cent solid.
East party wall	14.8 ft	100 per cent solid.
West party wall	14.8 ft	100 per cent solid.
The block behind	39.4 ft	100 per cent solid.