Radius markers

Add a radius marker

A radius marker turns a location into a catchment area. Each marker selects the nearby census block groups that power the map's demographic and competition analysis. You can add one in four ways.

1. Search for an address. Enter an address in the search bar and choose the result. The map adds a marker at the geocoded location.
2. Drop one on the map. Hold Ctrl and click the map. A normal click does not add a marker.
3. Reuse a recent search. Open Recent Searches in the Toolbar and select an address.
4. Load a saved location. Open Saved Locations in the Toolbar and select a location that is not already on the map.

New markers use 5 mi mode by default. After the marker appears, its census and provider data may take a moment to load.

Placement rules

• You can have up to three markers on the map at one time.
• Markers must be in the continental United States, Alaska, or Hawaii. Puerto Rico is not currently supported.
• You cannot add two markers at exactly the same coordinates.
• Ctrl+clicking a provider point does not place a marker on top of that point.

Use the map's Clear action to remove every active marker.

Marker Menu

Click the center pin to open its menu. The menu is the main place to work with one marker. From it you can:

• Rename the marker
• Switch between 3 mi, 5 mi, and Drive Time
• review population, households, and median age;
• Compare competition ratios or provider counts by ring or contour
• Save the marker to your profile
• Remove the marker from the map

The Analysis Panel also gives each active marker its own tab. From there you can switch modes, move the map camera back to the pin, save or unsave the location, and remove the marker.

Markers cannot currently be dragged to a new location. Remove the marker and add a new one if you need to change its center.

Change the catchment mode

Open the marker and choose a mode under Radius Mode.

3 mi

The compact catchment uses three distance rings: 1 mile, 2 miles, and 3 miles.

5 mi

The standard catchment uses 1 mile, 3 miles, and 5 miles.

Switching between 3 mi and 5 mi is immediate. The app initially loads the 5-mile area and derives the smaller area locally, so it does not need another request.

Drive Time

Drive Time replaces circular distance rings with travel-time contours. The default intervals are 10, 20, and 30 minutes. Drive Time performs a new route-area and census selection request, so its map contours and analysis can take longer to appear than a distance-mode change.

1. Open Settings in the Toolbar.
2. Go to Analysis.
3. Edit Drive Time Intervals. Each value must be from 1 to 30 minutes.
4. Select the refresh button beside the intervals to rerun all active Drive Time markers.

Choose how block groups are counted

In Settings → Analysis → Selection Mode, choose:

• Urban — counts block groups whose internal point is inside the marker boundary. This is the default and is best suited to dense areas with smaller block groups.
• Rural — counts any block group whose geometry intersects the boundary. This can better represent large, spread-out block groups, but it may include population outside the visible catchment.

Changing this setting updates what the marker selects, and can therefore change demographics, communities, provider counts, and competition ratios.

Customize marker appearance

Open Settings → Pin Styling to change:

• Drive-time contours — choose the three contour fill colors.
• Distance circle outline — choose the ring color.
• Distance circle line — choose solid, dashed, or dotted rings.
• Center pin — choose the pin color.

These are map-wide preferences, so they apply to all active markers rather than only the marker whose popup is open.

Rename and save a marker

Rename

1. Click the center pin.
2. Select the name at the top of the popup.
3. Enter a non-empty name.
4. Press Enter or click outside the field.

Save

The location then appears in Saved Locations. Selecting a saved location toggles its marker on or off the map. Removing a marker from the map does not by itself delete the saved location; use the saved location's remove action to delete it from your profile.

Active map markers are session-only and are not automatically restored after a page reload. Saved locations and recent searches persist, so you can use either list to add the marker again. A marker's active mode and display state also reset when it is re-added.

Understand the analysis

Each marker creates an independent catchment. Its selected block groups feed population, household, and age summaries; community and geography breakdowns; provider counts; competition ratios; and the marker's tab in the Analysis Panel.

The popup's Competition by Contour section shows each distance ring or drive-time interval. Use its Ratio / Count toggle to switch between competition ratio and raw provider count.

When markers overlap, the combined selection deduplicates shared block groups. A shared block group remains selected until every marker that includes it is removed or changed.

Troubleshooting

Clicking the map does not add a marker

Hold Ctrl while clicking, or add the location through address search. Plain map clicks are intentionally disabled for marker placement.

The cursor shows that placement is unavailable

You may already have three active markers. Remove one before adding another.

A marker has no analysis yet

Wait for its census and provider requests to finish. Drive Time requires additional routing and block-group work and may take longer. If you switch to 3 mi immediately after adding a marker, the app may still be finishing the marker's initial 5-mile data request — the mode switch itself does not start a second request.

Drive Time changes did not update an existing marker

After editing Drive Time Intervals, use the refresh button beside the interval inputs. If Drive Time remains empty or loading, retry the mode after confirming the map is online.

The selected totals look too broad or too narrow

Review Settings → Analysis → Selection Mode. Use Urban for internal-point matching or Rural to include every block group that touches the boundary.