@mappingtoolsAs well as calculating specific routes, MapPoint’s routing engine is capable of delineating areas within a specific drive time of a location. These areas are called Drive Time Zones and are drawn with a standard closed free-form shape. This means the shape can be easily edited with a mouse or a third-party extension (e.g. our MPSuperShape product).
To draw a drive time zone, select a place or pushpin on the map and right click to display the pop-up menu:
'Create drivetime zone' on the popup menu
Select Create drivetime zone… to display the Create Drivetime Zone dialog box:
Create Drivetime Zone dialog box
Enter the radius of the drive time zone using the spin buttons. The above image shows a radius of 10 minutes, but you will probably want to use a larger value.
Map clarity can sometimes be increased if shapes (including drive time zones) are placed behind roads. Set the Draw drivetime zone behind roads check box if you wish to do this. The shape will be drawn with the current outline color settings. Usually you will want to see what is inside the zone, so by default, a fill is not applied. Set the Fill drivetime zone with solid color check box if you wish to apply a solid fill to the shape.
Press OK to draw the zone. A thirty minute drive time zone centered on Chicago will appear like this:
An example 30 minute drive time zone
Note that the drive time zone does not extend into Lake Michigan (where there are no roads), and it tends to be slightly longer along the main highways.
You can draw multiple drive time zones. A series of different time zones can be easily drawn by creating successive drive time zones with different travel times but the same center. For example, this map has a 15 minute (red) and 30 minute (blue) drive time zone:
15min and 30min drive time zones around the same location
Drive time zones can be centered on different locations. This can be useful when you are analyzing market coverage from a series of sales locations.
Our MPSuperShape add-in product can be used to join shapes or find the intersections between shapes – including drive time zones.
