{"id":2756,"date":"2026-07-23T21:46:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T21:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zeemaps.com\/blog\/?p=2756"},"modified":"2026-07-23T21:46:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T21:46:24","slug":"isochrone-map","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zeemaps.com\/blog\/isochrone-map\/","title":{"rendered":"How Far Is 15 Minutes? Introducing Drive-Time Areas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How far can a customer really drive in 15 minutes? A circle on a map cannot tell you \u2014 rivers, highways, and dead-end streets all bend the answer. An isochrone map can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With ZeeMaps’ new Drive-Time Areas<\/strong>, you can highlight the area reachable within a chosen drive time of any location. Draw one around a single address, around every pin on your map, or around thousands of locations imported from a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the feature is available everywhere you work with ZeeMaps: interactively from the map menu, in bulk through CSV and Excel uploads, and programmatically through the ZeeMaps REST API<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Isochrone
Nested drive-time areas: everything within a 10-, 20-, and 30-minute drive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What Is an Isochrone Map?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An isochrone map \u2014 also called a drive-time map<\/a> \u2014 shows everything you can reach from a starting point within a set amount of travel time. A plain radius map answers “what is within 10 miles?” An isochrone map answers the question people actually ask: “what is within a 15-minute drive?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the shape follows the real road network, it stretches along fast corridors and pulls back at rivers, mountains, and dead ends. You may also hear these shapes called a travel time map or a drive time radius map \u2014 they are all the same idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In ZeeMaps, drive times are computed for car travel over current road data, and results are cached, so repeated requests draw instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlight a Drive-Time Area Around One Location<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The quickest way to create an isochrone map is from the map itself:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. From your map’s Additions<\/strong> menu, choose Highlight Regions<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Click the Drive Time<\/strong> tab.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Pick an origin: Center<\/strong> (use Map Select or enter a latitude and longitude), Address<\/strong>, or All displayed pins<\/strong> to draw an area around every pin currently shown.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Enter one or more drive times in minutes \u2014 for example, “10, 20, 30” creates three nested bands.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Choose boundary and fill colors, then add the areas to your map.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Each area is labeled with its drive time at the origin \u2014 “15 min” \u2014 and nested bands around the same point share a combined label such as “10, 20, 30 min”. Interactive requests accept 1 to 120 minutes and up to 50 areas at a time. If you change an area’s drive time later, ZeeMaps recomputes the shape from the same origin automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Drive
    The Drive Time tab in the Highlight Regions dialog<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Bulk Isochrone Maps from a CSV or Excel Upload<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Need a drive-time area around every store, clinic, or technician in a spreadsheet? Upload the file as usual and, under Around Each Pin<\/strong> in the marker-type list, choose Drive-Time Polygons<\/strong> (always visible) or Pinned Drive-Time Polygons<\/strong> (shown when a pin is clicked).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Upload
    Choosing Drive-Time Polygons when uploading a spreadsheet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    During upload, set a Default Drive Time<\/strong> in minutes for the whole file. In addition, if your spreadsheet has a Drive Time<\/strong> column, ZeeMaps recognizes it automatically and uses the per-row value instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That is all it takes to turn a plain location list into an isochrone map of your service coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Create an Isochrone Map from the API<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Everything above is also available to your code \u2014 or to your AI assistant, as we showed with the ZeeMaps REST API<\/a>. The bulk-import endpoint accepts the same spreadsheets, with two marker types: drive_time<\/code> and pinned_drive_time<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    curl -X POST \"https:\/\/api.zeemaps.com\/v1\/maps\/YOUR_MAP_ID\/markers\/bulk?marker_type=drive_time&default_drive_time=15\" \\\n  -H \"Authorization: Bearer $ZEEMAPS_API_KEY\" \\\n  -H \"Content-Type: text\/csv\" \\\n  --data-binary @locations.csv<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    The per-row drive_time<\/code> column works here too, and default_drive_time<\/code> sets the fallback for rows without one. API access is part of the Enterprise plan; the ten-minute quickstart<\/a> at apidocs.zeemaps.com<\/a> walks you through minting a key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    What Can You Do with a Drive-Time Radius Map?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n