Generate standard geography, distance, or time-based trade areas

Available with Business Analyst license.

Trade areas are used to help understand and further analyze your areas. For example, after you create trade areas, you can use them to create reports and run analysis to better understand the area's demographics. Geography, distance, and time-based trade areas are the most commonly used methods for generating trade areas. They can be defined by straight-line distance or time, network distance or time, or administrative boundaries.

Generate rings

You can use the Generate Trade Area Rings tool to create circular polygons (buffer rings) around point locations based on distance. For example, you can create 5-mile buffer rings around a set of store locations. To create rings around points on the map, do the following:

1. On the Analysis tab, in the Geoprocessing group, click Tools.

   The Geoprocessing pane appears.

2. On the Toolboxes tab, in the Business Analyst Tools section, expand the Trade Areas toolset and click Generate Trade Area Rings.

   The Generate Trade Area Rings tool opens in the Geoprocessing pane.

3. Choose the points around which to create rings by doing one of the following:
   • Use the Input Features drop-down menu to select content from the current map.
   • Click the Browse button to open the Input Features dialog box and choose an existing point layer from other projects or folders.
   • Click the Draw button and choose Points. Click the map to create points. When you are finished, click Finish. The points are saved as a new feature layer.
4. Use the Output Feature Class parameter to set the name and location of the polygon layer created.
5. Select a method of measuring the rings. On the Input Method drop-down menu, choose one of the following:
   • Values—Use a constant value (all rings will be the same size). This is the default.
   • Expression—Use Arcade expressions to apply different radius values based on input data or calculations.
6. Enter sizes for the rings in the Distances field. To add more rings, click Add another .
7. Use the Distance Units drop-down menu to choose the units for measuring the rings.
8. Use the ID Field drop-down menu to choose an identifying name for each area.
9. Optionally, decide how to handle overlapping rings. Do one of the following:
   • Check the Remove Overlap check box to create discrete polygons that do not overlap. The rings may not be perfect circles.
   • If you are creating multiple rings around each point and uncheck the Remove Overlap check box, use the Dissolve Options drop-down menu. Choose Overlap to create overlapping rings, or choose Split to create banded rings.
10. Click Run.

    The map populates with the ring layer.

Generate drive-time or walk-time areas

You can use the Generate Drive Time Trade Areas tool to create areas around point locations using specified travel methods and times or distances. These areas are based on road networks and represent the distance or time traveled to or from the site. To create areas around points on the map, do the following:

1. On the Analysis tab, in the Geoprocessing group, click Tools.

   The Geoprocessing pane appears.

2. On the Toolboxes tab, in the Business Analyst Tools section, expand the Trade Areas toolset and click Generate Drive Time Trade Areas.

   The Generate Drive Time Trade Areas tool opens in the Geoprocessing pane.

3. Choose the points around which to create drive times or walk times by doing one of the following:
   • Use the Input Features drop-down menu to select content from the current map.
   • Click the Browse button to open the Input Features dialog box and choose an existing point layer from other projects or folders.
   • Click the Draw button and choose Points. Click the map to create points. When you are finished, click Finish. The points are saved as a new feature layer.
4. Use the Output Feature Class parameter to set the name and location of the polygon layer created.
5. Use the Distance Type drop-down menu to choose the travel measurement: driving time or distance, trucking time or distance, walking time or distance, or rural driving time or distance.
6. Select a method of measuring the areas. On the Input Method drop-down menu, choose one of the following:
   • Values—Use a constant value (all trade areas will be the same size). This is the default.
   • Expression—Use Arcade expressions to apply different values based on input data or calculations.
7. Type sizes for the areas in the Distances field. To add more areas, click Add another .
8. Use the Distance Units drop-down menu to choose the units for measuring the areas.
9. Use the ID Field drop-down menu to choose an identifying name for each area.
10. Optionally, decide how to handle overlapping areas. Do one of the following:
    • Check the Remove Overlap check box to create discrete polygons that do not overlap.
    • If you are creating multiple areas around each point and uncheck the Remove Overlap check box, you can use the Dissolve Options drop-down menu. Choose Overlap to create overlapping areas, or choose Split to create banded areas.
11. Click Run.

    The map populates with the drive-time or walk-time areas layer.

Generate geographic boundaries

You can use the Generate Standard Geography Trade Areas tool to create trade areas by selecting a geographic boundary, such as a state or county. Using standard geography boundaries to create trade areas can facilitate a more accurate analysis, since demographic data is aggregated and available for these geographic units. When you create standard geography trade areas—rather than drawing custom polygons—you can access the most accurate data estimates for these areas. For example, in the United States, you can create standard geography trade areas for states, counties, ZIP Codes, and other administrative levels of geography.

Note:

The Generate Standard Geography Trade Areas tool can generate a maximum of 1,000 geographic boundaries.

To create standard geography areas on the map, do the following:

1. On the Analysis tab, in the Geoprocessing group, click Tools.

   The Geoprocessing pane appears.

2. On the Toolboxes tab, in the Business Analyst Tools section, expand the Trade Areas toolset and click Generate Standard Geography Trade Areas.

   The Generate Standard Geography Trade Areas tool opens in the Geoprocessing pane.

3. Use the Geography Level drop-down menu to choose a geographic boundary.
4. Use the Output Feature Class parameter to set the name and location of the polygon layer created.
5. For Input Type, select Table or List.
6. If you selected List, under Geography IDs List, click Browse to select a geography list.

   Depending on what geography level you selected, navigate to the desired geography and use the check boxes to select the areas to be mapped.

7. If you selected Table, under Geography IDs Table, click Browse or use the drop-down menu to add a table containing the geography IDs.

   If you are using Table as the geography input type, using the appropriate geography IDs is important. For example, in the U.S., your geography IDs table should contain FIPS codes for Census administrative boundaries, as only matched boundaries will create trade areas. If you have a table of U.S. states or counties, you must have the correct five-digit FIPS codes to create the trade areas.

   Note:

   In your geography IDs table, FIPS codes should be text-based ID fields, as there are cases where the IDs start with a zero. If your table has numeric IDs for the geographies, they will be misread as excluding the zero and will not match.

8. Click Run.

   The map populates with the standard geography areas layer.

Create trade areas based on points or polygons

You can use the Generate Geographies from Overlay tool to create trade areas by identifying or creating points or polygons on the map, and then choosing a standard geography level with which they intersect. For example, you can map all the ZIP Codes that intersect with a drive-time area you have created, or all the census tracts that contain your customer points. To map geographies that overlay your features, do the following:

1. On the Analysis tab, in the Geoprocessing group, click Tools.

   The Geoprocessing pane appears.

2. On the Toolboxes tab, in the Business Analyst Tools section, expand the Trade Areas toolset and click Generate Geographies From Overlay.

   The Generate Geographies From Overlay tool opens in the Geoprocessing pane.

3. Use the Geography Level drop-down menu to choose a geographic boundary.
4. Choose the points or polygons around which to create trade areas by doing one of the following:
   • Use the Input Features drop-down menu to select content from the current map.
   • Click the Browse button to open the Input Features dialog box and choose an existing point or polygon layer from other projects or folders.
   • Click the Draw button and choose Points or Polygons. Draw a polygon on the map. When you are finished, double-click the map or click Finish. The points or polygon is saved as a new feature layer.
5. Use the ID Field drop-down menu to choose an identifying name for each area.
6. Use the Output Feature Class parameter to set the name and location of the polygon layer created.
7. Optionally, use the Relationship drop-down menu to generate standard geographies based on whether the standard geographies intersect with, have their center in, or lie completely within the input polygon.

   If the input features are points, the tool generates the standard geographies they intersect with.

8. Optionally, use the Ratios drop-down menu to calculate ratios for geographies in relation to the overlay polygon.
   • Area only—Calculate the proportion of each geography's area that falls within the overlay.

   • All ratios—Calculate proportions for all fields in the installed dataset. For example, you can calculate the percentage of the geography's population that resides within the overlay polygon.

   Note:

   The Ratios functionality is not available when the input is a point layer.

   Once the tool runs, the ratios are provided as output for each geography added to the map. You can view these calculations in the geographies' pop-ups and attribute tables.

9. Click Run.

   The map populates with the standard geography areas layer.

Generate approximate drive-time areas

You can use the Generate Approximate Drive Times tool to create an average drive time for each polygon on the map. This type of trade area is created by traversing the available street network as closely as possible to the input polygons to estimate travel time or distance. This value is returned as an attribute in the Output Feature Class attribute table.

1. On the Analysis tab, in the Geoprocessing group, click Tools.

   The Geoprocessing pane appears.

2. On the Toolboxes tab, in the Business Analyst Tools section, expand the Trade Areas toolset and click Generate Approximate Drive Times.

   The Generate Approximate Drive Times tool opens in the Geoprocessing pane.

3. Choose the layer that contains the polygons for which to create drive times by doing one of the following:
   • Use the Input Features drop-down menu to select content from the current map.
   • Click the Browse button to open the Input Features dialog box and choose an existing polygon layer from other projects or folders.
4. Use the Output Feature Class parameter to set the name and location of the layer created.
5. Use the Distance Type drop-down menu to choose the travel measurement: driving time or distance, trucking time or distance, walking time or distance, or rural driving time or distance.
6. Optionally, use the Distance Units drop-down menu to choose the units for measuring the distance.
7. Optionally, enter information about store locations:
   • Store Layer
   • Store ID Field
   • Associated Store ID Field
8. Optionally, specify an iterations limit.
9. Optionally, expand the Network Parameters section to specify settings for the street network.
   • Minimum Step—This parameter defines how far the area expands or contracts when the analysis checks the specified threshold value. For example, setting a minimum step of 0.25 miles means that the area will keep expanding another 0.25 miles until it reaches a threshold value within the threshold percent difference.
   • Threshold Percent Difference—This parameter defines how much of the specified threshold value the area should contain. For example, setting a threshold difference of 5 percent means that the area should contain 95 percent of the specified threshold value.
10. Click Run.

    The map populates with a new layer displaying the approximated drive-time areas.