Solar Map | City of Detroit

Welcome to the Detroit Solar Map

This map shows the potential solar energy for buildings and vacant lots within the Detroit city limits

Click on a building rooftop or city parcel shape to display information in this information panel.

It was produced through a partnership between the City of Detroit, Elevate Energy, Data Driven Detroit, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

For more information about this map and how it was produced, view the methodology behind it..

The estimates of onsite solar system capacity and production are the product of an formula which uses the total identified roof area, a cover ratio factor for solar modules, site orientation and other factors. While this provides reasonable estimates on average, the model varies in accuracy on a building-by-building basis. The analysis presented here should not be construed to replace onsite assessment performed by a certified professional.

How to Use the Detroit Solar Map

After clicking on a point on the map, any parcel will will be outlined in a thick, light-blue outline. Any Building at the clicked-on map point will have a blue map marker added to the center or nearest to the center of the roof shape. A parcel can contain multiple buildings and a single building can span multiple parcels. Some parcels contain no buildings, and some of those had their potential solar capacity estimated.

Map Components

The Map is composed of two main elements: the map area and the side bar. The side bar can be toggled to show two different panels, the Information panel and the Layers/Filters Panel.

Map Area Components

Layer legends: Displays the color associated with solar energy capacity in kW (kilo-Watts). The Buildings and Parcel layers each have a legend since they show different ranges of solar capacity.
Search Bar: Use this to search for an address.
Zoom and angle controls: In the upper left corner of the map, the plus sign and minus sign buttons control the zoom level of the map. The compass needle button below controls the angle of the map. Clicking on the angle control will return the map to having north being at the top of the map.
Scale bar: shows the size scale of the map in feet or miles.

Properties Panel

Initially this panel shows the Welcome message. After clicking on a point on the map, this panel will show information based on what layers are turned on. It can show information for the Building Layer, the Solar Capacity, and the Parcel Layer. It is possible to click on an area near a building and just see information for the parcel. You must click directly on a building shape to see solar information for that building.

Additional information about each data field can be seen by hovering over the information icon, shown as the letter “I” in a circle.

Clicking the "Clear Selection" button will deselect the currently selected shape, and have side bar to show the Welcome message again.

Note that Buildings that are over 160 feet tall are not suitable for rooftop PV (photo-voltaic) solar and do not have solar capacity displayed.

Since solar energy information can originate from either the Buildings or Parcels datasets, The Solar Energy Estimates Section displays from what layer the solar information came from.

Layers/Filters Panel

Data Layers

The initial view is set with both the Buildings and Parcel layers turned on. This shows a hybrid view. You can also show only Buildings, or only Parcels, or a Neighborhood layer showing aggregated solar potential.

Overlay Layers

These are additional layers to the Data Layers that appear as boundaries or half-transparent areas of shape information.

Council Districts
Opportunity Zones
Historic Districts
Zipcodes

Building Filters

When the Building Layer is turned on, the single “Solar Energy Capacity (kW)” will visually filter the map to only show buildings that have a certain solar capacity within the selected range.

Parcel Filters

Solar Energy Capacity (kW)
Zoning
Building Use
Vacant or DLBA
Opportunity Zone
Affordable Housing Project
Brownfield
Demolition
City Owned

As noted on this Panel, Filters for one layer do not affect the other. For example, this means that if a “Zoning” filter was set to show only one zone type, building shapes will not filter to that. Also Filters for the same layer have an "AND" relationship. For example, checking the boxes for the “Vacant or DLBA” and “Brownfield” filters would only show parcels that are both.