An open-source 3D solar radiation model integrated with a 3D Geographic Information System

Photovoltaic energy has become a popular renewable energy source for sustainable urban development. As a result, 3D solar radiation models are needed to facilitate the interactive assessment of photovoltaic potential in complex urban environments. SURFSUN3D is a visualization-oriented full 3D solar radiation model that has been shown to achieve efficient computation and visualization for 3D urban models. The present paper introduces a framework to integrate SURFSUN3D into a 3D GIS-based application to interactively assess the photovoltaic potential in urban areas. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Software availability The program is a freeware licensed under terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) and runs under Windows operating systems with hardware and software support for NVIDIA CUDA and OpenGL. A minimum of 4 GB system memory and 1 GB video memory is recommended. The full source codes for SURFSUN3D and the demonstrated prototype system is available at https://code. google.com/p/surface-mapping-based-3d-solar-radiation-model/.