How the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium seat and sun data is measured

Every number comes from a USGS lidar survey of the stadium, NOAA solar equations, section numbering from the official Gator Boosters season-ticket map, and row lists from rateyourseats.com. Nothing is estimated from photos.

Sources

Stadium shape: USGS 3DEP lidar, FL Peninsular FDEM 2018 (D19 DRRA) collection, flown 25 November 2019, 1 tile. First-return points gridded to 1 m, noise removed.
Section positions: the official Gator Boosters 2026 Football Season Ticket Map (floridagators.com), a vector PDF with a text layer. Section-number labels were pulled from the PDF text layer and registered to the lidar's field box (goal line to goal line). Checked against the map's own FLORIDA and VISITOR bench labels, which land on the west and east sidelines respectively, matching the lidar.
Row lists, covered rows, student sections and side-of-field tags: rateyourseats.com section pages.
Gates, bag rules, parking, transit and accessibility: floridagators.com. Capacity and opening year: Wikipedia.
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, 9324 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. A seat is in direct sun when the sun is higher than that horizon. Games are sampled every 10 minutes for 3.5 hours. The Vanderbilt game (Nov 21) has no exact kickoff yet; floridagators.com lists it in the "Early (12-1 p.m.)" window, so it is modelled at noon. Oklahoma (Nov 7) kicks off at 7:45 pm, after sunset.

How rows and section positions were placed

Section positions come from the official Gator Boosters 2026 season-ticket map, which draws the Florida (west) sideline at the bottom and the lettered south end zone on the right. On each sideline the even-numbered section holds the lower rows (1 to 49) and the odd-numbered section behind it the upper rows (50 to 90) of the same rising stand, so every row is placed by its row number along one rake measured from the lidar, square to the sideline. The lidar shows the west stand climbing from the field wall to about 22 m at 82 m out, then a ledge at about 32 m and the skybox tower roof at 50 to 54 m; the east stand climbs to about 27 m at 93 m out, open to the sky. The north end zone's lower rows rise to about 5.5 m, then a step at about 12 m under the Sunshine Seats deck, which climbs from about 19 m to 38 m. The south end zone's lettered rows rise to about 5 m, then the upper deck climbs from about 11 m to 27 m. In the south upper deck the rows run 1 to 12, then jump to 59 to 90 (rateyourseats.com).

Two groups sit where the lidar cannot see the rows: the Evans Champions Club (501 to 513) inside the west skybox tower, and Touchdown Terrace (218 to 229) under the north deck. Their rows start at the step measured in front of each structure and are laid at a typical row depth, so their distances and heights are estimates, and they get no seat views. Covered rows are from rateyourseats.com.

How the seat views are made

Each view is drawn from a 3D model built from the lidar, from 1.1 m above the seat (seated eye height), facing the field.

Limits

The Evans Champions Club (501 to 513) and Touchdown Terrace (218 to 229) sit under structures the lidar cannot see through; their row positions and heights are estimates, and they get no seat views. Their sun minutes come from the covered rows published by rateyourseats.com.
Not modelled: the Bull Gator Deck, Press Deck and Suites levels (2, 3, 6 and 7) inside the west tower; these are not sold as individually numbered public sections.
Student-section boundary is published two slightly different ways (rateyourseats.com: 24-35, 37, 39-45; TickPick: 23-35, 37, 39-44); this build uses the more conservative, narrower wording and cites both.
A $1.45 billion renovation of the stadium is planned to begin after the 2026 season and run through 2030; this model reflects the stadium as it stood for the lidar flight and the 2026 season, before that work starts.
Light poles and video boards thinner than the 1 m grid may be missed.
No seat view for Sections 218, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 229, 501, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 508, 509, 510, 511, 512, 513. Their rows and sun minutes are still shown.

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