Which customer locations are within the travel time you're considering for each branch? You need that information when you're reviewing customer access across a branch network.
Road connections can give branches different reach even when they appear close on a map. You're comparing trips between those branches and the customer or service locations you want to study.
Prepare the branch origins and demand points
Keep a branch name, location ID and address for each origin. Check the plotted branch against its known location before drawing an area around it. If the starting address puts the marker on the wrong side of a large property, correct the origin first. A trip starts at the entrance people use, and a nearby road may be accessible only through that entrance.
Add the demand points you want to study on the same map. These might be distinct customers, service locations or job addresses. Keep a record-type field so you can tell branch rows from customer rows. Keep the relevant customer or job IDs too; you'll need them when you inspect or export the records inside an area.
Decide what a row means before reading any counts. One row per customer lets you count customers. Several jobs for the same customer let you study job locations or repeated demand, but those rows do not become several distinct customers. Use the unit that answers your planning question.
Choose the travel threshold before comparing branches. It may come from an existing planning standard or from the access question you're investigating. Keep it consistent for the first comparison. If you want to compare both 15-minute and 30-minute reach, create the same two areas around every branch.
Unshaded land doesn't automatically need another branch. Put the customer points in view so you can check whether the uncovered space contains demand that your branches are meant to serve.
Draw a branch drive-time area
The Drive Time Polygon Tool draws estimated driving reach from an origin. Unlike a straight-line circle, its shape follows road access. Roads, connections and geographic barriers can make the reach uneven around a branch.
These areas assume perfect driving conditions. Keep the traffic assumption with the threshold as you work. Since neither current nor historical traffic is included, the area cannot tell you how far someone will get during the morning commute. Use actual trip evidence later if your decision depends on that period.
In Maptive, open Map Tools, then choose Drive Time Polygon Tool. Enter the branch's origin address, or add the address from a branch marker using the right-side menu. Enter the time in hours and minutes, then click Add Drive Time Polygon.
Check that the new area starts from the branch you intended. Look at the shape and the nearby roads before adding the next one. If the result seems odd, return to the origin address rather than assuming that the branch's name proves the starting point is right.
Draw areas for the other branches using the same threshold. Keep the branch list beside you and mark off each completed origin. This is especially useful when branches have similar names or several locations in the same city.
For a second threshold, return to the same origin and enter the different time. Keep each result clearly named so you can distinguish the smaller area from the larger one during review.
Keep several areas readable
Use clear names that combine the branch and the travel threshold. A label such as the branch name followed by “30 minutes” tells you which origin and estimate you are inspecting. If you add a shorter area, give it its own threshold in the name.
To change an area, open its three-dot menu and choose Edit Proximity. You can adjust the name, color, opacity and travel time. Click Save when you're done. Give different branches colors you can tell apart, and use enough transparency to see customer points and overlapping areas.
When several fills make the map hard to read, hide an area with its eye icon in Selected Proximities or the Bottom Active Tools Bar. Review one branch at a time, then bring the others back for comparison. You can remove an unwanted area through the three-dot menu with Delete Polygon, then confirm the deletion.
Changing the display won't change the travel assumption. Read the modeled area as an estimate based on its origin and chosen time. If an edge doesn't support the service commitment you want to make, investigate the trip rather than changing the drawing to fit that commitment.
Measure customers inside the areas
Inspect counts and metrics
Click a polygon to see its origin and the number of mapped locations inside it. Start by checking a few of those locations against the map. The count is a count of included rows, so it can include the branch itself and any other record types you've imported.
If you need customer-only counts, prepare a numeric CustomerCount field with 1 on each customer row and 0 on branch rows. This works when each customer appears once. If the file contains repeated customer records, clean those records or prepare a distinct-customer table before calling the result a customer count.
Open Customize Metrics, select Spreadsheet data, choose the column and the calculation, then choose Add to Proximity Details. The available calculations include Sum, Average, High Value, Low Value and Group Count. Use Sum for the prepared CustomerCount field. A record-type column with Group Count can also help you see which types of rows are included.
Match the calculation to the question. Sum can show total visits or demand units if your source column contains those values. Average answers a different question and can hide a few very large accounts. Put the measure's name and period beside the result so anyone reading it knows what the area contains.
Export the underlying locations
Use the area's three-dot menu and choose Export Locations to download its source rows. This gives you a worklist you can check against customer IDs, addresses and the measures used in the area details. Use Export File when you need the results for all polygons and radii.
Review the exported rows before passing the count along. Confirm that the intended record types are present and that repeated IDs mean what you think they mean. Keep the branch origin and travel threshold with the export, especially when several files will be combined in a spreadsheet.
If you export boundaries, distinguish boundaries fully inside the area from those that partly intersect it. A ZIP code can touch the edge while much of its area is outside the estimated reach. That partial intersection doesn't establish that every address in the ZIP is within the chosen travel time.
Check overlap and the area's edges
Compare reach without double counting
When two branch areas overlap, either branch may be able to reach that geography under the chosen estimate. The overlap alone doesn't decide which branch owns a customer or which staff member should serve it. Keep any existing assignment rules alongside the reach analysis.
Compare customer IDs across the exported worklists before adding branch counts. A customer included in both areas should appear once in a distinct network total. Retain both branch associations if the purpose is to understand backup coverage, but label that measure differently from a unique-customer count.
Nested thresholds need the same care. Customers in a 15-minute area also fall within the larger 30-minute area from the same origin. Adding the two totals counts the inner customers twice. If you need an outer band, compare the IDs and separate customers included only in the larger area.
Look at demand outside all the relevant branch areas too. Its size, frequency and service needs matter more than the acreage of the unshaded map.
Validate known travel points
Choose known addresses clearly inside the area, near its edge and just outside it. Check the origin entrance and plausible road corridors to each point. If a familiar trip looks inconsistent with the result, verify both addresses and examine the route people take.
Use recorded trips or job history to test the area before it supports a service promise. Compare trips at the times your staff or customers travel. A trip observed on a morning with light traffic may not represent an afternoon trip on the same road. Keep the period and conditions with your observations so the review doesn't lose that context.
The modeled area describes travel from the branch origin. If your question is about customers driving to the branch, check those inbound trips separately. One-way roads and access patterns can make the two directions differ.
For a presentation, set the relevant view and use Export Map Image, select the file type and style, choose Normal or Large, then click Continue. Include the branch origins, chosen thresholds and no-traffic assumption with the image. Check that the customer points and area edges remain readable in the final output.
