Overview of Shadow Length Calculation App

Brief Description of Mobile Phone App design for Calculating the Sun's shadow Length at given location, date and time.

Note: This is just a very initial idea on the basic design concept of the Mobile App. No fixed ideas at this stage although the inputs and the output are set.

Background
The App is an education tool for anyone with curiosity about the Earth, basic astronomy and the things most of us take for granted without really understanding why things are the way they are.  In this case, the topic of calculating the shadow cast the sun against a post, pole, stick or whatever is a door opener to learning more about astronomy and why we should be persuaded and comfortable with the body of science that the Earth is globe shaped, spins on its axis and orbits around the Sun.

Design Ethos
This has to be a very simple to use App that that just works without any complications and the minimum of inputs required.
At the same time, the App needs to interesting and appealing to look at in order to give the message that science and how our universe works is fascinating, wonderful and definitely worth some of our time to understand more.

A start for the screens required
1. Main screen
Somehow, the design and text on the screen needs to draw people into wanting to use the App and they should feel that its really easy to use because, to begin with at least, they don't have to do anything except open the App and see immediately what the shadow length would be at their location, date and time of day.  Note that the object that casts the shadow needs to a known height but a default value of 1 meter can be provided and this will mean that the shadow length for the device's location ,date and time will be automatically displayed without any action from the user.  The aim of the design is to entice the user into wanting to try the next step of setting up their own experiment to measure shadow length on a sunny day and compare it against the predicted shadow length provided to them by the App.  This next design objective is to give the user a sense of wanting to find out more... So, with the help of suitable buttons or other widgets, thy can click and find out more.  Ultimately, they could first see some colorful diagrams of a 2D representation of the Earth and Sun together with objects casting shadows on the curved surface of the Earth but these visual images can then lead the user into how the calculations are done.

2. 'Do the experiment' screen,
Linked from the main screen, this screen will give the user information about what is required to carry out the experiment themselves.  For example, 'What do you need?' could be combination of text and images to show a Tape Measure and a few options for good objects to choose for casting a shadow (eg. a fence post, sign post or even a stick pushed in the ground, a level piece of ground where there aren't other shadows to prevent the experiment). The 'How to do it?' could also be presented with images and maybe also words to show the object being measured for height and then the shadow being measure from the base of the item... Finally, the item's height being entered into the App to compare results.

3. 'Learn more' screen
Ultimately, the calculations involved are a little complicated so we do not want to put off those, especially children, who want to learn more.  Images can be used to present a 2D schematic of the Earth and the Sun with symbols to indicate where angles and lengths are measured.  We can also have schematics that show Earths rotation and declination in a way that makes it reasonably clear why shadow length varies in the way it does.  For the intrepid, there can be further links, perhaps to websites, that expand on the subject at a deeper level.

4. Share, Feedback, etc
Part of the interest in this App should be that people want to see what results their friends or family get in other parts of the country or around the world.  There should be an element of the App that encourages people who have tried the App to share it. For example, they may wish to coordinate an experiment between friends and family who live in different locations so that their experiments are done at the same time.  At some point, a social media group would be a good way for people to share results and find new contacts in other parts of the world to repeat the experiment with - sharing photos, videos, etc.

Finally, a 'buy me a coffee' link could be provided to help fund future enhancements of the App and/or create new Educational Apps.