Product ideas are often sparked as a result of friction in a specific use case, but sometimes the result is endless possibilities.

That seems to be the case with Shadowmap. Maker Georg Molzer launched the product today, which is an interactive 3D maps app for visualizing solar shadows. He explains that the idea came to him on a dark and cold winter day in Vienna where tall buildings and low sun give rise to seasonal depression.

Molzer set out to make shadow data available for everyone, which he explained came with challenges.

“Creating a web application that is on the one hand capable of processing large amounts of data while on the other hand performing real-time 3D visualization brought some obstacles... I wanted Shadowmap to be intuitive and familiar to use.”

The challenge paid off with positive feedback and people sharing their use cases like apartment hunting, solar planning, design, tourism, and photography. The Product Hunt community has started contributing their own:

“Many Chinese believe in "Feng sui", also known as Chinese geomancy. This tool could be helpful to find a dream home that matches good feng sui 😅” - Ken Moo

“Great product @molzer I see a great use case for Vastu compliance in India.” - Girdharee Saran

“Really great app and very handy, especially when you are a filmmaker as I am.” - Lucas Riklin

“As I work with Wine Imports the use-case for weather-sensitive products such as Rosé are clear.” Andreas Bøggild

This is the public launch of Shadowmap after being in public beta since October. Molzer and his future co-founder are working on user-requested features like simulation of focal lengths, 1st person perspective, placement of custom 3D objects, and a Moon visualization.

You can give Shadowmap a go for free (there’s a pro account for SaaS professionals) and let Molzer know how you’re thinking of using it.

Our friends at Stripe have an exciting launch coming today after 9:05am PST. Come back and visit the Product Hunt homepage to be one of the first to see it.