Window View
Where Shadowmap excels at site-wide solar and shadow context, Window View flips the perspective to the lived experience inside a unit. It’s built around placing a specific window on a particular wall and floor, then evaluating what you’ll actually see outside and how much direct sun reaches that exact vantage point.
This makes it especially compelling for apartment selection and real-estate conversations, where the question is less about rooftop potential and more about “will this living room get sun?” or “is the view blocked by the building next door?” Because the workflow is window-first, it’s easier to compare units in the same building or similar buildings without doing broader solar engineering.
Window View also stands out for its low-friction ethos: it aims to stay open source and free, which can be a practical advantage when you just need a quick answer without procurement or account setup. The main trade-off is that getting accurate unit-level results typically requires manually placing the window location, since listings rarely provide precise unit geometry.
For anyone making a move-in decision or guiding a buyer through trade-offs, this unit-centric viewpoint can be more decisive than the broader solar overlays Shadowmap is known for.
Best for
Best for apartment hunters, agents, and renters who care about unit-specific sun and views.
Standout features
- ✓Window placement on specific wall and floor
- ✓View obstruction analysis from the unit
- ✓Sunlight evaluation at window vantage point
- ✓Open source and free to use
