How the SECU Stadium seat and sun data is measured

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

Sources

Stadium shape: USGS 3D Elevation Program lidar, Central Maryland collection, flown 9 December 2023, 2 tiles. 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, the Maryland side and the student section: rateyourseats.com section notes; the wheelchair row is left out. umterps.com publishes the visiting team section, not the bench side.
Visiting team, Family and Terp Tank sections, bag rules, water, re-entry, Terpsville and Terp Walk: umterps.com. Parking and the Quickbus: transportation.umd.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, 5619 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. Kickoffs not yet announced are modelled at each Big Ten window (noon, 3:30 pm, 7:30 pm Eastern).

How rows are placed

A line is walked out from the field edge through each section and takes the first rake in that tier's height band: the lower bowl from the field wall, the 200 level about 16 m up, the 300 level about 28 m up. The 300 level and the west end are open to the sky top to bottom, so their rows spread over the visible rake. The north lower bowl runs on under the 200 level, and the 200 level under the 300 level: their rows keep the depth measured where the tier is fully visible, and rows past the visible rake count as covered.

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 December 2023. The lower bowl seats were widened before the 2025 season; the bowl's shape and the section numbers did not change.
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 Tyser Tower mezzanine, the suites and the press box.
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