Los Angeles (demonstration)

The side return that gets four feet of sky

DemonstrationEdit the plan

Exact location

When the herb pots 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 herb pots 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

6:32 PM·September

September 14 · The herb pots

12:47 PM

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 Neighbour's wall	—	—	2° up, bearing 87°
8:00 AM	shaded by Neighbour's wall	—	—	12° up, bearing 97°
9:00 AM	shaded by Neighbour's wall	—	—	22° up, bearing 109°
10:00 AM	shaded by Neighbour's wall	—	—	31° up, bearing 122°
11:00 AM	shaded by Neighbour's wall	—	—	40° up, bearing 137°
12:00 PM	shaded by Neighbour's wall	—	—	45° up, bearing 156°
1:00 PM	in sun	—	—	48° up, bearing 178°
2:00 PM	shaded by The house	—	—	46° up, bearing 200°
3:00 PM	shaded by The house	—	—	41° up, bearing 219°
4:00 PM	shaded by The house	—	—	33° up, bearing 235°
5:00 PM	shaded by The house	—	—	24° up, bearing 249°
6:00 PM	shaded by The house	—	—	14° up, bearing 260°
7:00 PM	shaded by The house	—	—	3° up, bearing 271°
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 herb pots 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.
Usable light is3.5 mol/m2/day under— 2.5 mol/m2/day against at least 6 mol/m2/day
Plants respond to the light that actually arrives over a day, not to the label on the tag. Below about six moles a day, very little thrives rather than merely surviving.
Hours of direct sun is0.8h under— 0.7h 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 herb pots
Weather: Temperate maritime, mild, grey, damp (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: Los Angeles (demonstration), with a time zone, which is what makes an hour an hour.
Quick Somewhere to read: 1 spot marked. A reading is a height at a place, and moving it moves the answer.
Mapped The things in the way: 3 objects drawn. The house counts, and so does the neighbour's.
Mapped What is underfoot: 1 of 1 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 3 objects are measured. The remaining 3 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 6:32pm in September

Temperate maritime, mild, grey, damp (scenario shape).

What it feels like

cool

50.8°F

Felt temperature · 16 on the reporting scale

It feels about 13 degrees cooler than the air, near 51°F.

What is doing it

How much sky is overhead
−14°
Air movement
+2.0°

How this was worked out

Air: 63.7°F from Temperate maritime, mild, grey, damp (scenario shape), scenario (from a published source)
Radiant: 27.6°F mean radiant temperature
Method: Six-directional radiation integration, then ASHRAE operative temperature (from a published source)

Direct sun

in shade

0 W/m²

Beam reaching this point · 0 on the reporting scale

The house is standing in the sun's way.

How this was worked out

Sun: 8deg up, bearing 266deg
Traced: 0% of the beam reaches this point
Shaded by: The house

Glare

none

out of 100

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

How this was worked out

Facing: 150deg (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

1.1 mph

Wind at the seat · 5 on the reporting scale

Wind here is still.

What is doing it

The house
−0.5 mph

How this was worked out

Reference: 9.2 mph at 10 m from Temperate maritime, mild, grey, damp (scenario shape), scenario (from a published source)
At seat height: 1.6 mph before shelter
Shelter: 33% 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

64°F

Surface temperature · 6 on the reporting scale

The surface is running about 64°F.

How this was worked out

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

Wetness

slow

2.9 x

Drying time against the open · 32 on the reporting scale

Very little sun reaches this surface, so it dries slowly whatever the weather does.

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

daylight

out of 100

Artificial light is not doing anything at this hour.

How this was worked out

Sun: still up

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	24.6 ft	100 per cent solid.
Neighbour's wall	21.3 ft	100 per cent solid.
The back of the house	24.6 ft	100 per cent solid.