Solskin

Why this exists 👋

It started with the same frustration on repeat: the sun comes out, you have an hour or two, you walk to a place — and the terrace is in shade. Or worse, the place doesn't even have outside seating.

So I started keeping a list. Then the list got long. Then I figured: why not put the sun on the map?

What it does

Solskin (Danish for "sunshine") shows the outdoor bars, wine bars, cafés, and restaurants I love around Copenhagen, and tells you which ones actually have sun on their terrace right now.

How it knows where the sun is

Three things, recalculated as you move the time slider:

• Where the sun is in the sky — exact compass direction and angle above the horizon, computed from today's date and time. No internet needed for this part.
• Which way each terrace faces — I've gone through the venues one by one and noted which direction the outdoor seating points. South-facing catches the afternoon. North-facing stays shaded most of the day. It's a bit nerdy but it matters.
• The buildings around it — Copenhagen's narrow streets cast serious shadows. I use real OpenStreetMap building data and trace a virtual sun ray from each venue to see if anything's in the way. This part is pre-computed for the whole year so it doesn't slow your phone down.

What the colours mean

• Sunny — direct sun on the terrace right now
• Partial — sun grazes part of the seating, or it's low and hazy
• Shade — buildings are blocking it

The data, in case you're curious

Venues are hand-picked by me — no scraping. Locations come from Google Places. Building shapes from OpenStreetMap (© OSM contributors, ODbL). Map tiles by CartoDB. The whole app is one HTML file with no backend.

If a pin's in the wrong spot, you can drag it with the 📍 button in the popup. The fix only saves on your phone (so I don't accidentally overwrite real coordinates with bad ones).

Know a place I should add?

Tell me on Instagram: @jolinnemann. I'll add it. Especially if it's somewhere small, weird, or has a south-facing courtyard nobody knows about.

Sometimes it says shaded but the place is clearly sunny (or vice versa). Why?

OpenStreetMap doesn't always have building heights — when it's missing, I estimate from the number of floors, which can be wrong. Seating orientation is also a judgment call: corner seating catches sun differently than a single row along a wall. It's a model, not reality. If the pin itself is in the wrong place, drag it with the 📍 button on the popup.

Does it work offline?

Mostly. The app, the venue list, the sun math, and the shadow data are all bundled into one file and work offline once loaded. Map tiles need internet though, so panning to new areas won't render until you're back online.

Why does it ask for my location?

Only to sort the list nearest-first and drop a blue dot on the map. Your coordinates never leave your phone — there's no server. If you say no, the list just sorts by sunshine instead.

Can I add a place?

Yes please! DM me on Instagram: @jolinnemann. Send the name and address, and I'll add it in the next update.

Does it work outside Copenhagen?

No. The venues are curated for Copenhagen specifically, and the building-shadow data only covers roughly Frederiksberg to Refshaleøen. Maybe one day for other cities — but for now this is a love letter to one.

Why is the sun calculation based on the city centre and not my exact location?

The sun's position is computed from a single point in central Copenhagen (lat 55.68, lng 12.57). Across the whole city the difference is less than 0.01° in azimuth — way too small to matter for whether a building's shadow falls on a terrace.