5Location and maps

5.1 How to

1. In the "Address Search" menu, enter an address or coordinates. Coordinates in decimal degrees with a decimal point, latitude first: "48.1351, 11.5820" or "48.1351 11.5820".
2. In the "Project Area" menu, use "Set project area center point" to place the center roughly in the middle of the planned PV areas and confirm.
3. In the "Project Settings", check the suggested "Time zone" and click "Apply"; check the preset elevation data source in the "Elevation data" menu.
4. Under "Map", choose the base map; if needed, place a plan as a template under "Overlays".

Until the project area is set, all other menus and map buttons are locked.

5.2 Project area

The project area is a circle with a 3 km radius around the center and applies to all versions (Ch. 4). All PV areas must lie within it; observation points, obstacles and excluded areas may lie outside. It also determines the suggestion for the time zone, the available base maps and the extent of a custom or official terrain model (Ch. 6). When it is set, the sources of the elevation data and the base map are preset.

5.3 Time zone

The "Time zone" is chosen in the project settings (UTC−12 to UTC+14, including zones with half and three-quarter hours such as UTC+5:30 or UTC+5:45) and saved per version; without it, the simulation does not start. All times in simulation and report are standard time of this zone; clock changes are not taken into account. If daylight saving time applies at the site, the local clock time in those months equals the stated time plus one hour (standard time).

The zone is determined for the center of the project area, or otherwise estimated from the longitude (longitude ÷ 15°, rounded). This suggestion must be checked, because time zone boundaries do not follow the meridians.

5.4 Base maps

The options are "Official aerial image", "Google Satellite" and "Google Map" (road map). The official aerial image is the orthophoto of the latest flight from Germany (all 16 federal states), Austria (basemap.at) and Switzerland (swisstopo), provided that a service delivers images at the center of the project area; it is then preset, otherwise "Google Satellite". The choice is saved with the version. If the official service cannot be reached, the map temporarily shows "Google Satellite"; the saved choice is kept. The report takes over the base map of the simulated version; there it can be changed for all or individual maps (Ch. 14).

5.5 Map overlays

An overlay places a plan as an image over the map, for example a site plan or development plan, as a template for drawing; it is not used in the simulation. Formats are PDF (first page only), JPEG and PNG, at most 30 MB per file and per project in total. Overlays belong to the project and appear in all versions. "Position" shows handles for moving, scaling and rotating; "Scale via 2 points" aligns position, rotation and scale via two control points (one point in the image and its counterpart on the map each). Rectification is not possible. In the report, overlays are off by default and can be switched on individually under "Map overlays" (Ch. 14).

5.6 Measuring

"New measurement" sets a point with each click, at most ten; double-click or Enter finishes, Esc cancels. Measurements are saved with the version and are not used in simulation and report.

For each segment, the distance (horizontal, great circle on the sphere) and the azimuth (0° = north, clockwise) are shown, and from three points on the total distance. Height differences, slant distances and areas are not measured.

5.7 Points to note

• Project area only once: It cannot be moved; a wrongly placed area requires a new project. Installations extending beyond a 3 km radius cannot be entered in one project.
• PV areas outside are rejected when drawing and on KML import. An area moved across the edge afterwards is only rejected at the simulation start.
• Coordinates: An entry with a decimal comma ("48,13 11,58") is searched as an address. Degrees, minutes and seconds are recognised if each value has seconds and a cardinal direction (48° 8' 6.36" N, 11° 34' 55.20" E).
• Estimated time zone: The estimate from the longitude always gives a whole hour from UTC−12 to UTC+12; zones with half or three-quarter hours as well as UTC+13 and UTC+14 must then be selected manually.
• Aerial images show the state at the time of the flight; tall objects may appear offset to the side. The calculation uses the entered coordinates, not the image.
• Overlays are only as accurate as the two control points and the plan; distorted plans can only be aligned approximately.