BRC sun/wind direction map?

[dragonpilot]

I have an app on my phone that works well...Sun Surveyor Lite...if that wasn't mentioned earlier.

[Canoe]

How does this look?

Sunrise, sunset and solar noon look credible. Not so sure about the arc that runs between them, but it's hard to tell at that perspective.
Be nice if you could add hourly lines out to the arc.

Seems hard to tell where the sun will be coming from, from the perspective of someone's camp, for setting up a camp layout with shade structures.

I haven't run numbers yet this year as I've not seen this years map nor the specific location on the playa.

[Popeye]

I suppose it's accurate enough but the convention in North America is north at the top of the map, makes it hard to read.
But, maybe whoever drew this is from the southern hemisphere?

How does this look?

[Canoe]

...
But, maybe whoever drew this is from the southern hemisphere?

I think the difficulty is in finding a perspective of a 3D model that provides one with a meaningful look & feel of what is happening, when that model shows a hugely reduced scale.

With the above flat views, you can see the direction the sun will be at, hence where your shadow will fall. And for how far, if one looks at the elevation at that time. Most people who've paid attention to sun direction & elevation can quickly wrap their head around making a model in their mind of where the sun will be. I have that ingrained, both from doing my maps and from being on the ground at BRC and seeing the through the day. But for someone who hasn't been to BRC, or has never paid attention close attention to the sun's arc regarding solar collection or creating shade, I don't know how quickly they really form an idea of that.

With that 3D model, the 3D arc is valid for someone standing at the Man, but is viewed from above ground from the NE. At the scale representation of the drawing, that's problematic, as if at Solar Noon one is standing at the South side of BRC by Walk-in camping, the sun will not be overhead to the North between Walk-in and the Man... And if you're over at Gate, the sun will not be up in the sky to the ESE...
You'd have to scale the view out a lot to have the line intuitively show that the sun at Solar Noon will be to the South up at 58 degrees. You can 'read' that from the drawing, but it's not an obvious relative presentation.
If you view that model from the South, so North is "up", the sun's arc at that scale would be even more misleading.

If you imagine that your camp is at the Man, then that presentation of the arc becomes a lot more usable.

[Dactylion]

Here’s one that’s not spot on accurate, but seems to help people visualize the elements better...

BRC3Dsolwind.jpg

[DoctorIknow]

As much as one wants to set up both for sun and wind, you may find yourself with NO CHOICE about putting your "housing" footprint as desired.

Therefore, have shade for any side ready.
Have your shade structure not dependent on ideal setup, and make that structure strong.
If you have a tent with your door facing the wind with no vehicle to block it, perhaps have extra shadecloth to stretch from your shade structure diagonally to the ground, deeply rebar or lag screw it in the ground and that will take some stress away from your door and the tent in general.

[jasonk]

At least since 2014 (I don't know about earlier), the city/sun alignment has been consistent. Does anyone know why?

It can't be for "sunrise over The Man", the alignment is bad for that. Someone proposed it's so the airport runway can be on one side of the pentagon, and line-up well with proper winds for take-off/landing.

The only possibly-intentional "sun alignment" I see, is that 2:00 road seems to consistently line-up quite closely with sunset.

[silverfish]

I think it's so the 6 o clock/ 12 o clock axis aligns with the length of the playa. Said a different way, if you stand at center camp facing the man - you look down the length of the playa. If the 6/12 axis pointed north you'd look at much closer mountains.

I imagine this is to give greater space for art to inhabit a blank canvas. Less clutter in the background, a sense of a larger, more infinite space.

[Token]

The alignment has been steady more or less this whole millennium.

Why did Rod do it that way... ??? Hard to say and we can't ask anymore.

You will just have to take it as a grand Playa mystery.

RIP Rod.

[jasonk]

Any of you space-and-time-and-BRC geniuses know which way North will align with the city for 2019?

The last few years the 2:00 road seems to consistently line-up quite closely with West/sunset.

Where can I find good info about the city's geographic placement/alignment? Does BMOrg publish something useful?

[XPTom]

A map of the 2019 street layout was in the survival guide that came with my tickets last week. Looks like 4:30 is true south and 7:30 is true west.... very similar to recent years.

[jasonk]

A map of the 2019 street layout was in the survival guide that came with my tickets last week. Looks like 4:30 is true south and 7:30 is true west....

ZOMG, there's useful info in the Survival Guide this year?!? Who'd'a thunk?

True north/south...hard to tell, the North arrow is so short. Do you think that thin line to the airport is supposed to be a north line? If so, then yeah, 4:30 is fairly close to true/polar north/south.

[XPTom]

If you filled in the map above 2:00, I'd say figure sunrise a little clockwise past 1:00. true east 1:30. South 4:30. true west 7:30. sunset 8:00. You can go to a solar calculator page but remember this rock we are on is tilted and the Aug 25 numbers vary a few degrees from 2 Sept numbers.... so why fine tune it?

,

[jasonk]

Oh, this is a great resource: http://unofficialbrcmap.com

[Molotov]

Sun and wind map posted on Reddit:

[Token]

The truth is always found here:

https://innovate.burningman.org/datasets-page/

The document most relevant:

https://bm-innovate.s3.amazonaws.com/20 ... ements.pdf

The quote:

Elevation: 3904’
True North/South follows the 4:30 axis

Now geek out to the max!

[Token]

Bumpity-Bump.

Read and use. Second page is chock full of good stuff. Canoe went especially geeky on this ... much obliged!

[Canoe]

Might want to post a map of the city and how it is oriented as well. It might be helpful for those arriving at night. I know I had to do that for 2016 (10:00pm during a white out) and I nailed the orientation of the RV.

2019 BRC Sun Track Map
.

BRC sun track - 2019.gif

[Canoe]

But a much easier way to visualise the sun vs. shadows for shade, is a computer generated rendering.
.
viewtopic.php?f=277&t=101553
.
View of 7 am.
.

BRC camp tent shade check - 7 am.jpg

[Strata]

Does anyone have the sun/wind map for 2022 yet? Or is it the same as 2019? I notice that the "N" arrow is positioned the same as in 2019 on the 2022 map...

I'm going to be on Fugue at about 9:15, and I'm trying to plan my camp layout for my bus to provide max useful shade.

[burner von braun]

I was just looking at the 2022 map as well, and it seems to me like the city is oriented the same way as usual. The way I understand it, the whole thing is sometimes shifted laterally a bit, in order to lessen its impact on the playa and not leave permanent marks and ruts in the exact same place from the recurring infrastructure, but I don't think it is turned.

I hope you have a great burn Strata!

[Strata]

I was just looking at the 2022 map as well, and it seems to me like the city is oriented the same way as usual. ...

I hope you have a great burn Strata!

Thanks kindly this is very helpful. I hope you have a great burn as well!

[DoctorIknow]

The sun/wind map is great for designing the theme camp, but what about us campers showing up on Sunday? One may have no choice as to your tent/RV/etc relationship to the sun/wind map.

Therefore, make your structure strong enough for fierce winds, have the ability to put your shade where it's needed. If your entrance to a tent is facing the normal winds, then put a shade cloth or well anchored tarp right in front. Have it go right to the ground, even bury it a little, as playa will blow right thru it. Forget about wanting to look out the front of your tent to see what's going on, otherwise, going into or out of your tent in a vicious white out will instantly fill the tent with playa.

Most of all, make your structure strong with more tie downs, more guy lines, more lag screws than you think are needed.

[Strata]

The sun/wind map is great for designing the theme camp, but what about us campers showing up on Sunday? One may have no choice as to your tent/RV/etc relationship to the sun/wind map.
...

True, but if I don't know what's ideal, I won't know what to aim for.