Sightline Analysis comes to TPE Web
Sightline analysis gives you an elevation profile between two points, but then goes much further to offer an invaluable tool for photography planning.
We’ll be launching a new PRO feature in TPE Web later this week: Sightline analysis.
Sightline analysis starts by giving you an elevation profile between two points, but then goes much further to offer an invaluable tool for landscape and night photography planning.
We derive the detailed effective sightline from the red map pin to the gray pin, calculating the apparent elevation angle corrected for Earth’s curvature and for the effects of atmospheric refraction. Areas that are visible are clearly marked in stronger colors, while those that are out of sight are shown with a dotted line and a paler color.
You can spot-check distance, elevation, and altitude angles along the sightline. As you move the mouse, the corresponding location on the map is highlighted by a moving map marker, making it simple to compare key points on the sightline to the corresponding feature on the map itself.
When the Sun, Moon, or Galactic Center is close to the same bearing as the line from the red pin to the grey pin, it is shown in the sightline chart too, so you can see whether it is visible at any given moment.
Going further, sightline visibility is calculated accounting for any elevation offset applied to the map pins. For example, if you’re a drone photographer planning a drone landscape shot and want to confirm the sightline to a mountain summit when flying at 350 feet above ground, you can do exactly that.
Sightline adjusted for elevation above the ground (+350 ft)
The same applies to the grey pin – an elevation offset applied to the secondary pin is included in the visibility calculation, so you can check whether the top of a building is visible.
The new tool is invaluable for quickly evaluating alignment possibilities for a given date and site. If you want to find an angle on the next full Moon that aligns with a landmark, sightline analysis makes it easy.
Sightline analysis will be available in TPE Web 3.11, coming later this week.
If you’d like to learn more, join our free webinar on Saturday, Feb 10 at 10:30 am Mountain Time.
Register using this link.
