Shade Mapping: Using Mobile Devices to Find Shade from the Sun in Neighborhoods

Sun and shade are two sides of the same coin. In this work we explore the use of the built-in light sensor in mobile devices to collect lux readings and extrapolate the presence or absence of shade along routes in communities. This work presents an end-to-end system for gathering lux readings, transferring the data to a cloud database, and detecting shaded regions. Detected shaded regions are visualized as a shade map to provide insightful to improve the coverage and distribution of shade.