Light pollution map

4.3
72 reviews
5K+
Downloads
Content rating
Everyone
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About this app

Light Pollution Map helps you easily find the darkest places nearby by combining high-resolution VIIRS satellite data with an interactive global map. Explore sky brightness, compare light pollution levels, and plan the perfect dark-sky trip or astrophotography session.

Whether you’re an astronomer, astrophotographer, stargazer, traveler, or simply curious about night sky quality, this map gives you access to the most accurate and up-to-date night-time light data available.

Key Features

• Interactive light pollution map with VIIRS (Black Marble 2.0) satellite radiance
• Accurate sky brightness and dark sky map overlays (with color blind option)
• Various mapping tools (point/area info, moon info, brightness simulation, find closest dark site, VIIRS country stats, adding your own SQM measurements, etc...)
• MPSAS (magnitude per square arc second) and Bortle scale estimation for easy comparison
• Switch between multiple light pollution datasets
• Global coverage with high detail
• Additional layers such as Aurora (with prediction), Clouds, user submitted SQM, etc...
• Offline-friendly — (World Atlas 2015 can be cached)
• Find dark sky locations for astronomy, camping & astrophotography
• Compare historical VIIRS data and track how light pollution changes
• Intuitive, fast map with smooth controls and fullscreen mode
• Clean, privacy-respecting design (no ads, no tracking)

VIIRS Satellite Data

The app uses NASA VIIRS Day/Night Band data — the same scientific dataset used by research institutions and environmental agencies for monitoring night-time brightness. This ensures maximum accuracy when evaluating artificial sky glow.

Find Dark Sky Locations

Quickly identify dark places for:

• Astrophotography
• Stargazing
• Camping trips
• Milky Way observations
• Meteor shower watching
• Light pollution research
• Aurora spotting

Why This App?

Light Pollution Map offers a clear, easy-to-read view of global sky brightness without ads or unnecessary features. It focuses purely on delivering the most accurate light pollution map possible — ideal for both hobbyists and professionals. No subscription or other hidden fees. Once you buy it, you have it for life with any update that follows.

You can explore the map on the official website to see how the data looks:
https://www.lightpollutionmap.info

The mobile app provides offline mode, GPS integration, and smoother performance.
Updated on
Nov 15, 2025

Data safety

Safety starts with understanding how developers collect and share your data. Data privacy and security practices may vary based on your use, region, and age. The developer provided this information and may update it over time.
No data shared with third parties
Learn more about how developers declare sharing
No data collected
Learn more about how developers declare collection

Ratings and reviews

4.3
69 reviews
Nivesh Varma
September 15, 2020
Need to allow choosing SD card or other location for offline cache download. Also adding locations to favorites list ("My Locations") just doesn't work. Nothing happens when you try to type the name, or hit the pin button, or anything. Also can't even see the entire map legend, the legend image is too long to fit on the the screen and it's not possible to scroll down to see the rest of it.
8 people found this review helpful
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Deneb, Jurij Stare, s.p.
May 10, 2021
Thanks for your valuable feedback! All mentioned issues had been since fixed, reworked or newly implemented.
Talha Zia
May 23, 2021
Best app about light pollution. I have been using the web based version since 2017 and so far its the most accurate since I have been to various darksky sites after using it. Is it possible to extract data in csv format from it? Also I can't seem to click on Circle tool for drawing roi why?
20 people found this review helpful
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Deneb, Jurij Stare, s.p.
May 23, 2021
The data is stored as raster (as this is the most efficient way), but can be converted to any format. Contact me over email and I'm sure we'll find a solution.
Robert Lepage
August 27, 2025
Very accurate ! Find Darker Skies sooner with this App !!
3 people found this review helpful
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What’s new

- New Moon tool that displays realistic moon state (phase, illumination, libration, relative size), moonset/moonrise times and other properties at any given moment and location on the planet.
- Added NOAA 3-day Aurora forecast (turn on Aurora layer and a link should be visible under the dropdown menu)
- Various bugfixes

App support

About the developer
Deneb, Jurij Stare s.p.
starej@t-2.net
Adamiceva ulica 4 1000 LJUBLJANA Slovenia
+386 41 367 875

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