Regulator-grade solar site surveys — without the installer markup.
The site documentation that grant programs and permit offices ask for is usually locked behind installer-only software subscriptions. Solar Resource Map puts it in your pocket. Capture, analyze, and document a sky survey with your phone, and produce the kind of report that gets your permit signed and your tax credit approved.
Why this exists
The federal Residential Clean Energy Credit (30% through 2032) doesn’t require you to hire an installer. State and utility incentive programs vary, but many are available to owner-builders too. What stops most DIY solar projects from claiming those dollars isn’t the wiring — it’s the paperwork:
- A documented shading analysis the permit office and grant program will accept.
- A site survey showing where panels go and why.
- For grid-tied systems, stamped drawings from a Professional Engineer.
That documentation has traditionally meant either hiring a licensed installer (and accepting their markup on your system) or buying a professional shade-analysis tool plus a subscription.
Solar Resource Map produces the survey and shading documentation your AHJ and grant program want, with optional PE review and seal — so a DIY build can clear the same regulatory bar as a contractor install.
What it does
Three things your phone already has — camera, IMU, GPS — plus the math to put a real sun path over the sky.
- Live sun-path overlay. Summer solstice, equinox, winter solstice arcs, corrected for site latitude, magnetic declination, and the camera’s tilt. The current sun position tracks in real time.
- Multi-point project workflow. Drop measurement pins on a satellite view of the site. Walk to each pin and collect a three-photo sky survey.
- Annual shading-loss estimate. Mark obstructions on the captured sky photos. The app integrates direct-beam loss across the year and reports a percentage per point.
- PDF site report. Per-point captures, shading numbers, project summary — the document you submit to the permit office or attach to a grant application.
How a survey works
- Set up the project. Name it, drop a satellite-map pin on the site, confirm the project location and geofence.
- Place measurement points. Tap to drop pins at array corners, problem spots, and edges of the array field.
- Walk the site, capture each point. At each pin, lay the phone on the planned panel plane to capture tilt and azimuth, then take three photos covering the sky. The live overlay shows you the sun paths against the real horizon as you frame.
- Mark shading. Trace obstructions — trees, parapets, adjacent buildings — on the captured photos.
- Generate the report. PDF with per-point shading loss, project map, and per-capture details.
Why it works without dedicated hardware
The phone is the instrument:
- Tilted-panel projection. A full 3D ENU vector projection driven by the phone’s rotation vector sensor. Lay the phone flat on the panel surface and the overlay corrects for panel tilt and azimuth — not just a flat-zenith fisheye.
- NOAA solar position. Sub-0.01° accuracy from 1950 to 2050.
- True north, not magnetic. Magnetic declination is corrected from the site’s GPS fix and date.
- GPS-stamped captures. Every photo carries lat/lng/timestamp metadata, grouped automatically into per-point sets.
Pricing
| Tier | Best for | Limits | What’s included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | DIY home or small commercial install | Up to 12 measurement points · 200 m geofence | Live overlay, GPS-stamped photos, project management, per-point shading analysis, PDF report |
| Enterprise | EPCs running multiple sites | Up to 50 points · 1 km geofence | Everything in Small, plus multi-point batch compositing and client-branded report output |
| Utility | Utility-scale projects | 50+ points · 2 km geofence | Everything in Enterprise, plus large-array shading model, GIS export (KML / GeoJSON), priority support |
Small is available as an in-app purchase. Enterprise and Utility are quoted — request information.
PE-signed add-on
When your jurisdiction requires a Professional Engineer’s seal — common for grid-tied systems over a size threshold — the PE-signed add-on covers it. A licensed PE reviews your survey and stamps a report you can submit to the AHJ. Available with any tier, stamped per applicable state.
Built by control system engineers
Solar Resource Map is developed by Control System Integrators. We design instrumentation and control systems for industrial plants; the same engineering discipline goes into this tool — calibrated sensors, traceable measurements, documented assumptions.
If you’d rather have us run the survey for you, contact us for an engagement quote.
Contact
Tell us about the project — system size, location, timeline — and we’ll get back the same day.