How the Huntington Bank Field seat and sun data is measured

Every number comes from a USGS lidar survey of the stadium, NOAA solar equations, the official Huntington Bank Field seating map and published row lists. Nothing is estimated from photos or copied from ticket sites.

Sources

Stadium shape: USGS 3D Elevation Program lidar, Ohio Statewide Phase 1 2019 collection (flown 9 November 2019), 13 tiles. First-return points gridded to 1 m, noise removed.
Section positions and shapes: the official Huntington Bank Field 2026 seating map, a vector drawing, lined up with the field in the lidar.
Row lists, covered rows, team sides and the Dawg Pound sections: rateyourseats.com section notes.
Gates, bag rules, first aid, guest services, parking and road closures: huntingtonbankfield.com. Capacity: Haslam Sports Group.
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, 10530 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 roof 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 levels by height: the 100 level starts at field level, the 300 level about 13 m up, the 500 level about 26 m up, and the roof canopy (about 49 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. Wheelchair platforms and skipped row numbers keep their slot. Row depths range from 0.789 to 0.821 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 or roof get none.

Limits

The lidar was flown in November 2019. The seating bowl has not been rebuilt since the 2014 to 2015 renovation; anything changed after the survey is not in the shadow model.
Suites (200 and 400 levels), the field level clubs and Section 623 are not modelled as seats. Light poles and video boards thinner than the 1 m grid may be missed.
The Browns plan to move to a new domed stadium in 2029; this data covers the current lakefront stadium.

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