Questions about use of new Sunlight tool

[Hoverbird]

Is there any way to select a particular date (other than the current one) to see the extent of sunlight on a particular landscape at different times of year? I am looking at a location in hilly terrain, and am curious to find how much the extent of shading will vary over the course of a year at that location. Is the extent of shadowing displayed on Google Earth at present calculated with respect to the actual landscape elevation, or will the degree of vertical exaggeration selected for 3-D viewing going to impact on the extent of shadowing indicated?
I apologize if this is a topic which has already been discussed, but I could not find any reference to it in the forums which I searched.
Thank you for any useful information, and if there is a tool to give the ability to select the date for the check on extent of sunshine, I would be grateful for any details of where to find it.

[Munden]

You can probably just adjust your computer's system time to trick GE into thinking it's a different date, but that might mess with other things you have installed so I don't know if I'd recommend doing that. Maybe someone else has a trick to try out.

[Hoverbird]

Thanks for the suggestion about changing the time and date on my computer as a way of fooling GE into giving me details of shadow cover for dates other than the current one. Unfortunately it does not seem to work - sticking resolutely to the present date! I suspect that somehow you might need to set the time and date on the central server in order to fool the software into giving information about what would happen on any given date. Any alternative suggestions would be most welcome, however.

[tpstigers]

Are you sure GE was set to use the time as set on your computer? I don't know if it defaults to this or not.

[Appletom]

Gearth uses your computer's clock. I changed my clock to 11-24-08, then started Gearth. I'm not too sure of the accuracy, I set the time for 3:05 in the morning and the entire continental United States is in daylight.

[Hoverbird]

Many thanks to you for the suggestion. It works! I thought I had tried the same thing without success, but I had changed the date while GE was running, and it ignored my change. As you say, Appletom, if you set the date first and then start GE, it will pick up the 'false' date and sunrise etc. will be shown as for that date. Problem solved.

[tpstigers]

Gearth uses your computer's clock.

Actually, using your computer's clock is one of three options Gearth gives you for the sunlight tool.