Sources, methods and validation

Everything on this site is either computed from open data, written by us from sources listed on the page, or linked to the official source. We don't publish prices, opening hours or show schedules: they change too often, so we link to the venue or agency instead. Last rebuilt 2026-11-02.

Data sources and licences

The walking-distance data the site publishes at /static/data/walk.json is derived from OpenStreetMap and is available under the ODbL.

Not used: the Regional Transportation Commission's GTFS timetable feed. The RTC publishes no open licence for it, and its website terms reserve schedules, maps and fare information for personal, non-commercial use, so we link to rtcsnv.com instead of republishing timetables.

Sun times

Sunrise, sunset and twilight are computed with NOAA's solar position equations (after Meeus), iterated on the event time, with the standard −0.833° altitude for sunrise and sunset (refraction and the sun's radius), −6° for the end of civil twilight and −12° for nautical twilight. Times are converted to Pacific time with daylight saving. We compared 36 values with the U.S. Naval Observatory for the Strip on solstices, equinoxes and both daylight-saving change days, and for Death Valley (below sea level) and Mount Charleston. Worst difference: 1 minute, the size of the rounding.

All 36 comparisons

Place	Date	Event	USNO	Ours	Diff
The Strip	2026-03-08	rise	7:01	7:01	+0
The Strip	2026-03-08	set	18:42	18:42	+0
The Strip	2026-03-08	dusk	19:08	19:08	+0
The Strip	2026-03-20	rise	6:44	6:44	+0
The Strip	2026-03-20	set	18:53	18:53	+0
The Strip	2026-03-20	dusk	19:18	19:18	+0
The Strip	2026-06-21	rise	5:24	5:24	+0
The Strip	2026-06-21	set	20:01	20:01	+0
The Strip	2026-06-21	dusk	20:31	20:32	+1
The Strip	2026-09-22	rise	6:29	6:29	+0
The Strip	2026-09-22	set	18:37	18:37	+0
The Strip	2026-09-22	dusk	19:03	19:03	+0
The Strip	2026-11-01	rise	6:04	6:04	+0
The Strip	2026-11-01	set	16:44	16:44	+0
The Strip	2026-11-01	dusk	17:11	17:11	+0
The Strip	2026-12-21	rise	6:48	6:48	+0
The Strip	2026-12-21	set	16:30	16:30	+0
The Strip	2026-12-21	dusk	16:59	16:59	+0
The Strip	2027-01-05	rise	6:52	6:52	+0
The Strip	2027-01-05	set	16:40	16:40	+0
The Strip	2027-01-05	dusk	17:09	17:09	+0
The Strip	2027-07-15	rise	5:35	5:35	+0
The Strip	2027-07-15	set	19:58	19:58	+0
The Strip	2027-07-15	dusk	20:27	20:27	+0
Death Valley (Furnace Creek)	2026-06-21	rise	5:30	5:30	+0
Death Valley (Furnace Creek)	2026-06-21	set	20:09	20:09	+0
Death Valley (Furnace Creek)	2026-06-21	dusk	20:39	20:39	+0
Death Valley (Furnace Creek)	2026-12-21	rise	6:56	6:56	+0
Death Valley (Furnace Creek)	2026-12-21	set	16:36	16:36	+0
Death Valley (Furnace Creek)	2026-12-21	dusk	17:05	17:05	+0
Mount Charleston	2026-06-21	rise	5:26	5:25	-1
Mount Charleston	2026-06-21	set	20:03	20:03	+0
Mount Charleston	2026-06-21	dusk	20:34	20:34	+0
Mount Charleston	2026-12-21	rise	6:50	6:50	+0
Mount Charleston	2026-12-21	set	16:31	16:31	+0
Mount Charleston	2026-12-21	dusk	17:00	17:00	+0

Climate normals

Monthly and daily normals come straight from NOAA's 1991–2020 files for Las Vegas (Harry Reid International Airport, station USW00023169) and for the stations nearest each day trip. A normal "high" is the 30-year average of daily maximum temperatures, not the month's extreme; we checked that our parsing matches NOAA's published tables:

Station	July high (ours)	Published	Largest monthly difference
LAS VEGAS MCCARRAN AP, NV US	104.5°F	104.5°F	0.0°F, 0.0 in
DEATH VALLEY NP, CA US	117.4°F	117.4°F	0.0°F, 0.0 in

Death Valley is the hard case: it is far hotter than any other station and below sea level. Hoover Dam has no nearby NOAA normals station that records temperature, so its page has no climate chart.

Walking distances and the Monorail

Walking distances are shortest paths on OpenStreetMap's network of sidewalks, footways, crossings, pedestrian bridges and streets that allow walking, from each place to the nearest point on that network. For Strip resorts the starting point is the property's frontage on Las Vegas Boulevard (the boulevard point nearest its Wikidata coordinates, moved 25 m towards the property), because a resort's map point usually sits deep inside the building and snaps to back-of-house service roads; downtown casinos and sights start from their Wikidata coordinates. Indoor routes through casinos are only partly mapped, so real walks can be a little shorter or longer. Minutes assume 80 m a minute (3 mph) unless you choose another pace.

Check	Published	Computed	Difference
Las Vegas Blvd road line, Russell Rd to Sahara Ave	about 4.2 mi (6.8 km), the length usually given for the Strip	6,741 m	-0.3%
Walking route on the footway graph, Russell Rd to Sahara Ave	same 4.2 mi; walking adds bridges and crossings	7,003 m	+3.6%
Monorail track, end to end	3.9 mi (6.3 km), the route length the operator gives	6,652 m	+6.0%
Monorail, MGM Grand station to Sahara station	(stations sit inside the track ends)	5,780 m	—

Across 2,714 pairs of places more than 400 m apart, the median walk is 1.1 times the straight-line distance. The Monorail's end-to-end track measures about 6% longer than the operator's round "3.9 miles" probably because the mapped track includes tail tracks and crossovers beyond the end stations; station-to-station distances on the getting-around page are measured between the mapped stops.

Resort timeline

The 62 places in the timeline and their dates were compiled from the English Wikipedia article on each (infobox and article text), then compared field by field with Wikidata: opening dates (Wikidata's official opening date, or its inception date when that is a full date), closing dates and demolition dates. Where Wikidata has only a year we count it separately; where the two disagree we went back to contemporary reports.

Result: 47 dates agree, 7 where Wikidata gives only the year (same year), 3 differ:

Place	Date	We publish	Wikidata	Why
Treasure Island	opened	1993-10-26	1993-10-27	Contemporary reports (Deseret News, 28 October 1993) put the opening on the evening of October 26, with the Dunes implosion the following night; other sources give October 27. Marked as uncertain.
Resorts World	opened	2021-06-24	2013-03-01	Wikidata's 2013 date is its inception (the start of the project), not the opening; the resort opened on June 24, 2021.
Riviera	demolished	2016-06-14	2016-06-13	The 24-story tower came down in the early hours of June 14, 2016, local time; Wikidata gives June 13.

Also resolved: the Venetian opened on May 3, 1999 (the Las Vegas Sun's report of the opening day and Wikidata), not May 4 as Wikipedia's infobox has it.

Written content

The neon, area, nightlife and day-trip texts are our own writing. Every fact was confirmed in at least two independent sources where possible (official sites, the Neon Museum, the National Park Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, Nevada State Parks, UNLV Special Collections, local newspapers); each page lists its sources and a box of anything uncertain or disputed. Venue listings describe venues, never show times or prices.

Photo credits