How to Use the Day and Night World Map App

Follow this user's guide for the Day and Night World Map iPhone app to find out the current position of the sun and the moon. It features a scrollable map that shows which parts of the world are in the daylight and which are at night.

The upgraded version offers a number of additional features, including information about when there's a solar eclipse and where they're visible, as well as animated world maps in 5 different looks.

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How Do I Get the App?

Download the timeanddate.com’s Day and Night World Map from the App Store or in iTunes.

To download the app, simply tap the price button in the upper right-hand corner and navigate through the “Buy Now” options. When the download is complete, the Day and Night World Map application will appear on your home screen and is ready for you to use at any time.

The Day and Night World Map is also available in high definition on iPad.

Using the Day and Night World Map on iPhone

Press the Home button at any time to go to the Home screen.
Tap on timeanddate.com’s Day and Night World Map application.

• Areas covered with different shades of gray are at night.
• Areas not covered are in daylight (See Figure 1).
• The current local time is located at the bottom left corner of
  the world map.
• The map shows the current location of the sun (☀) and
  the moon (○).
• Map information can be found scrolling at the top of the screen.
• Scroll to the right or left to see an extended view of the world map.
• The different shades of darkness represent the four levels of night. The three levels of twilight are (from lightest to darkest):

• Civil Twilight - when the Sun is below the horizon but its center is less than 6 degrees below.
• Nautical Twilight - when the center of the Sun is between 6 and 12 degrees below the horizon.
• Astronomical Twilight - when the center of the Sun is between 12 and 18 degrees below the horizon.
• Night - No Twilight.

Optional Upgrade Features

Perform an In-App purchase to get more options for the Day and Night World Map. These features include:

• More options for solar eclipses: Choose an eclipse and see on the animated World Map where on Earth it is visible and exactly when it occurs.
• 5 animated and scrollable maps that show the day and night moving across the planet.
• Fast Forward or Rewind time at 7 different speeds (up to 1 week/second).
• Select your own date and time.
• Preset Seasons (March Equinox, June Solstice, September Equinox, December Solstice).
• An In-App Help feature.

To purchase the upgrade:

• Tap on the “i” icon located at the bottom right corner of the screen.
• Tap on “Buy Now”.
• The In-App store will request for your password and confirmation.
• Select “Yes” if you would like to continue buying the upgrade.
• Once it is complete, the upgraded Day and Night World Map app will be ready to launch and use at any time.

How to Use the Upgraded Day and Night World Map

The upgraded Day and Night World Map now has play buttons located in the bottom left corner. These play buttons allow you to view an animated map where you can fast forward or rewind time at different speed intervals (See Figure 2).

Map animation

• Press the Play button to show the map moving forward in time at one minute per second. The local time will be shown in accordance to the changing map.
• To move forward in time at a faster speed, tap on the
  Fast Forward button (up to 7X = one week/sec).
• To move back in time, tap on the Rewind button
  (up to -7X = one week/sec).
• Tap on the Pause button to stop the map at any time.
• The Stop button will stop the animated map and bring you back to your current local time.

Selecting eclipses

• Click on “Eclipse” button at the bottom of the screen
• Tap on an eclipse in the list (the list is scrollable and shows all solar eclipses from 1950 to 2050)
• Tap on a phase (e.g. "The total eclipse starts” or "The partial eclipse ends”) to select the exact point in time that the world map should show.

Eclipses: what does the map show?

The animated world map shows where the selceted solar eclipse is visible (light gray, dark gray and red shading) as well as day and night (dark “wave” slowly moving across the Earth's surface).

The colors within the shaded area show how much of the Sun's disk the Moon covers during the eclipse. The dark center of the red area shows the best locations to view this eclipse. Here, the Moon moves centrally in front of the Sun.

In the red area, the Sun is obscured 90 percent or more, in the dark gray area the Moon covers between 25 and 90 percent of the Sun's disk. The light gray area symbolizes locations where less than 25 percent are covered.

Selecting map design

• Tap on the “Map” button at the bottom of the screen
• Tap on one of the 5 listed looks

Additional options

Tap the “i” icon located in the bottom right hand corner to view more options and the In-App Help feature (See Figure 3).

• Choose to show the Sun or Moon in the map.
• Select a specific date and time. Tap on “Choose Time” located at the bottom left corner or at the bottom of the list.
• Choose a Season.
  • March Equinox
  • June Solstice
  • September Equinox
  • December Solstice
• The “Help” feature is located at the bottom right corner. It features tips and tricks as well as more information about how to use the app.

Support

Fill out our online support form if you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the Day and Night World Map app for iPhone.

You can also email any questions, bug reports, or suggestions to webmaster@timeanddate.com . Please mention “Day and Night” in the subject line and give a detailed description of the problem so that we can improve the quality and performance of our apps.

Credits

The help system is based on the iUI User Interface framework which is Copyright © 2007 - 2009, iUI Project Members. All rights reserved.

The Day and Night Map is generated based on images from the NASA Visible Earth Project.