How the Lambeau Field seat and sun data is measured

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

Sources

Stadium shape: USGS 3D Elevation Program lidar, Wisconsin Brown/Rusk 2020 collection (flown 7 May 2020), 2 tiles. First-return points gridded to 1 m, noise removed.
Section directions: the section order round the bowl from a ticket map (section centres only), lined up with the field in the lidar.
Row lists and team sides: rateyourseats.com section notes. Packers sideline: the Packers ticket office seat descriptions.
Gates, bag rules, seat backs, parking and tailgating: packers.com A-Z guide and carry-in policy. Capacity: 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, 8685 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.

How rows are placed

A line is walked out from the field edge through each section. The bleacher bowl is one straight rake from the field to about 21 m up, where the suite level starts. The 100 level (Rows 1 to 61) and the top ring (300 level Rows 1 to 9, 400 level Rows 1 to 13) share that rake, so the row depth is the rake length divided by all its rows. Row depths range from 0.736 to 0.736 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.

Limits

The lidar was flown in May 2020. The seating bowl has not changed since: the 2023 work replaced the video boards and concourses, and the 2025 NFL Draft stage was temporary.
Not modelled: the indoor clubs (470 to 492, 670 to 694), the suites and the south end zone tower (432S to 450S, 630S to 648S, 730S to 750S), where the lidar sees the tower roof, not the seats.
Section edges come from the section order round the bowl, not an official drawing, so a section's sideways extent can be off by a seat or two.
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