# Colour postcodes inside travel areas Official GBMaps guide for the classic map maker. VectorMaps has a different interface. Source: https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=travel-postcodes Updated: 2026-10-22 Turn your travel areas into coloured postcode territories with one button. The matching areas take the coverage colours and appear in your normal map key. There is no list to find, copy or import first. [Watch tutorial video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-sWexGmyfo) Some videos show an earlier layout. The written instructions below describe the current controls; this is a guide, not a video transcript. ![Colour postcodes inside travel areas — current GBMaps controls](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/help/images/travel-multiple-panel.png) Current controls with a sample travel result. The picture explains the tools, not a real journey. ## Travel areas on the map ![Three nested irregular travel-area bands over a Yorkshire map, with a separate key for 10, 20 and 30 minutes. The screenshot states that the contours are illustrative, not a calculated journey.](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/help/images/example-travel.png) Isochrones are travel-area shapes. Their irregular edges show why a time-based catchment can look very different from a circle: the available network affects how far you can travel. This is an illustrative display made with the tool’s renderer, not a calculated route or journey-time estimate. Use Create areas with your own starting location and settings to calculate your map. ## 1. Set up your coverage Choose the starting point you want to use and press Create or Update on map first. Only that starting point’s calculated travel bands are used. Check the position, sizes, colours and labels before colouring. Hiding the coverage does not remove it from this calculation. [Open this step](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=travel-postcodes#travel-postcodes--ready) ## 2. Colour postcodes Click Colour postcodes. On an uncoloured map the result appears straight away. On a map with existing territory colours you choose what to keep. This uses the shapes already on your map; it does not make another travel-service request. [Open this step](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=travel-postcodes#travel-postcodes--colour) ## 3. Add to existing Keeps every postcode that already belongs to a coloured territory, even where the new coverage overlaps it. Only uncoloured matching postcodes receive the new colours. Your existing key entries and notes stay in place. [Open this step](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=travel-postcodes#travel-postcodes--add) ## 4. Replace colouring Clears all existing territory colouring and its key entries, then colours only the matching postcodes. Areas outside the coverage become unassigned. Your circles, dots, travel areas, images, text and other map artwork stay in place. Cancel or the close button leaves everything unchanged. [Open this step](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=travel-postcodes#travel-postcodes--replace) ## 5. What counts as inside? The tool tests the representative centre of each polygon at your map’s postcode level. It colours the whole area, district or sector when that centre falls inside the coverage. A polygon may extend beyond the edge, or partly overlap the coverage without being selected. This is not a list of individual addresses or an exact clipped boundary. [Open this step](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=travel-postcodes#travel-postcodes--matching) ## 6. Colours, labels and overlaps Travel band colours and labels become the territory colours and key names, prefixed by the starting-point name. Where bands overlap, the inner band wins. [Open this step](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=travel-postcodes#travel-postcodes--overlap) ## 7. Undo, save and refresh the result Undo reverses the whole colouring operation in one step; Redo restores it. Save keeps the new territory colours and key. Colouring is a snapshot: moving coverage or changing its labels later does not recolour the territories automatically. Click Colour postcodes again and choose Replace colouring to rebuild just this coverage, or Add to existing to fill only uncoloured gaps. [Open this step](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=travel-postcodes#travel-postcodes--undo) ## Related guides - [Radial Circles: distance rings](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=circles) - [Colour postcodes inside circles](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=circle-postcodes) - [Create Dots: postcode locations](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=dots) - [Colour postcodes inside dots](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=dots-postcodes) - [Distance/Time: road-travel areas](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=travel) - [How to map a depot and its delivery coverage](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=coverage-recipe) - [Save, open & keep a separate copy](https://www.gbmaps.com/mcs/map-help.php?topic=save)