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How to map a depot and its delivery coverage

Use Radial Circles for straight-line distance or Distance/Time for estimated travel by road. Both can turn the coverage into coloured postcode territories using Colour postcodes. The result selects whole polygons by their centres, rather than cutting boundaries at the edge of a circle or travel area.

Watch tutorial video Opens YouTube · some videos show an earlier layout

See it on the map

Real map artwork · example settings
A Thirsk depot marker has a blue label box above its location with an arrow pointing down to it. A Malton office marker uses a purple label below its point and a line call-out.
Marker boxes on the map. These are placed marker boxes: each label is connected to a location on the map. One uses an arrow with the text above the point; the other uses a line with the text below it. You can change the wording, text size, colours and call-out, and move a selected marker using Place on map.
A Yorkshire map with a green circle, blue square, yellow triangle, purple hexagon and orange star at different locations. A larger hollow dashed circle appears around York.
Different dots and shapes. Advanced dots can use circles, squares, triangles, hexagons and stars. Different shapes and colours help distinguish depots, customers or other location types. The larger hollow circle demonstrates a coverage-style outline; the basic dot controls also let you adjust fill, transparency and line appearance. These are example positions.
Three concentric circles over Yorkshire share one centre. Blue, green and rust-coloured rings are labelled 5 miles, 10 miles and 15 miles.
Distance rings on the map. A set of three rings with a 5-mile interval gives radii of 5, 10 and 15 miles from the same centre. The labels and line colours make the distances easy to distinguish. These are straight-line distances, so they are useful for a radius-based service area; use Distance/Time for a journey-based view.
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.
Travel areas on the map. 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. Mark the depot

    Use a marker box for a named depot, or a postcode dot for a simple symbol. Position it by full postcode where possible.

  2. Draw straight-line rings

    Use Radial Circles for fixed distances around the depot. Add sets to compare several depots. Use linked settings when each depot should be measured on the same scale.

  3. Or calculate travel areas

    Use Distance/Time for road-based travel. Set the outer limit and number of bands, then calculate. Check that the displayed result is useful for the purpose of the map.

  4. Colour the postcodes within reach

    Click Colour postcodes in Radial Circles, Create Dots or Distance/Time. Matching uses each map polygon’s centre and colours the whole polygon. On an already-coloured map, Add to existing preserves current territories while Replace colouring uses only the chosen coverage. The key is created for you, and one Undo puts it back. You do not need a postcode results list or a spreadsheet import.

Classic GBMaps · Written by GBMaps · Updated Download this guide for your AI (.md)
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