How the Acrisure Stadium seat and sun data is measured

Every number comes from a USGS lidar survey of the stadium, NOAA solar equations, the official Acrisure Stadium maps and published row lists. Nothing is estimated from photos or copied from ticket sites.

Sources

Stadium shape: USGS 3D Elevation Program lidar, Western Pennsylvania 2019 collection (flown November 2019 to February 2020). First-return points gridded to 1 m, noise removed.
Section positions and shapes: the official Acrisure Stadium 2026 maps (Lower, Club and Upper level). They are not drawn to scale, so each map is lined up with the field in the lidar on its own.
Row lists, covered rows, team sides and the Pitt student section: rateyourseats.com section notes.
Gates, bag rules, guest services, family section and policies: acrisurestadium.com. Parking: Acrisure Stadium and Alco Parking.
Sun: NOAA solar position equations. Weather: ERA5 reanalysis and forecasts via Open-Meteo.

How shade is computed

Each section is sampled on 3 lines (left, centre, right) at every row, 10173 seat points in total. For each point the surrounding stadium surface is scanned in every direction the sun can come from to give a horizon profile, which includes the deck or canopy above covered rows. A seat is in direct sun when the sun is higher than that horizon. Games are sampled every 10 minutes for 3.5 hours.

How rows are placed

A line is walked out from the field through each section and the measured profile is split into tiers by height: the lower level starts at field level, the club level about 11 m up, the upper level about 24 m up, and the canopy over the upper sidelines (about 50 m) is never seating. Where a covered row is published, the open rows are spread over the visible slope in front of it and the covered rows continue at the same depth under the deck. Row depths range from 0.6 to 0.95 m.

How the seat views are made

Each view is drawn from a 3D model built from the lidar, from 1.15 m above the seat (seated eye height), facing the field. Views are only drawn for open rows; rows under the deck above get none.

Limits

The lidar was flown in winter 2019 to 2020. The seating bowl has not been rebuilt since; later work (new seats, the 2022 renaming and fan zone changes) is not in the shadow model.
Covered rows in the north club tier (217, 218, 227 and 228) come from the lidar alone, where the deck above starts; elsewhere they are published.
The PNC Champions Club (FC and FS sections), the North Club and the suites are indoor or enclosed and are not modelled as seats. Light poles and video boards thinner than the 1 m grid may be missed.

Downloads (CC BY 4.0)

sun-by-section.csv: game, kickoff, section, minutes of sun, shade arrival
sections.json: section geometry and row-by-row sightlines