How the Camp Randall Stadium seat and sun data is measured

Every number comes from a USGS lidar survey of the stadium, NOAA solar equations, the Wisconsin section letters and published row lists. Nothing is estimated from photos.

Sources

Stadium shape: USGS 3D Elevation Program lidar, Wisconsin 5 County collection, flown 15 April 2024. First-return points gridded to 1 m, noise removed.
Section directions: the section order round the stadium from a ticket map, lined up with the field in the lidar.
Row lists and covered rows: rateyourseats.com section notes.
Badgers bench: badgerselect.com, Wisconsin Athletics' seat site. Student section, gates, parking, Jump Around: uwbadgers.com. Carry-in rules: policy.wisc.edu. 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, 6585 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. Rows under the structure above count as shade. The Rutgers kickoff is not announced yet, so every Big Ten window (11 am, 2:30 pm, 6:30 pm) is modelled.

How rows are placed

A line is walked out from the field edge through each section, and the measured profile is split into tiers by height: the lower bowl up to about 20 m, the west upper deck about 20.5 to 42 m. Rows a section does not sell (Rows 1 to 4 in the student end, Rows 1 to 18 at the south end in front of the premium building) keep their depth, so the listed rows start where they really are.

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. Only rows open to the sky get a view.

Limits

The lidar was flown in April 2024. uwbadgers.com reports no seating changes since; 2026 construction next door changes walkways, gates and the team bus drop-off, not seats.
Where the west upper deck or the east press box and suites overhang the back of the lower bowl, the hidden rows continue along the measured slope and count as shade. rateyourseats.com lists no covered rows on the east side; the cover there is measured from the lidar.
The ticket map is not drawn to scale, so section directions come from it but section edges can be off by a few seats.
Not modelled: the Varsity Club boxes, the south end zone loge boxes and clubs, and the suites.
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