How the Davis Wade Stadium seat and sun data is measured

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

Sources

Stadium shape: USGS 3D Elevation Program lidar, Mississippi NRCS East collection, flown 5 January 2020, about 3 points per square metre. 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. The ticket map leaves out the north end (Sections 8 to 15); their directions follow the section order between 7 and 16.
Row lists and the Mississippi State side: rateyourseats.com section notes. hailstate.com does not say which sideline the Bulldogs use.
Student and visitor sections, gates, cowbells, bag rules, The Junction, Dawg Walk and the 2022 Balconies: hailstate.com. Parking and shuttles: transportation.msstate.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, 5457 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. Where a kickoff is not announced yet, every SEC 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 28 m, the upper decks about 29 to 47 m. Sections 101 to 113 are Rows 60 to 68 of the west lower bowl, so they continue the lower bowl's measured slope behind Row 59, under the upper deck. Rows a section does not sell (the front rows of the student end) keep their depth.

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 January 2020, before two changes. In 2022 the Balconies replaced the old Sections 301, 302, 312 and 313 and parts of 303 and 311 at the ends of the west upper deck; in 2026, 60 premium seats were added on top of the South Loge. The sections modelled here still exist, but sun on the ends of the west upper deck may differ a little from the 2020 shape.
This survey is thinner than our newer ones (about 3 points per square metre), so edges of the decks are rougher.
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 Floyd Wade Jr. Club, the 200 level loges, the Scoreboard Club, the Balconies and the suites.
Light poles and video boards thinner than the 1 m grid may be missed.
No seat view for Sections 103, 104, 105, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 113: rows under cover. 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