Announcing the Isochrone API
By: Jay Cox-Chapman
If you left right now, and traveled for fifteen minutes in any direction, how far could you get? If you traveled that same fifteen minutes in every direction, you would start to define a reachable area — everywhere you can reach within fifteen minutes. Mapmakers call this kind of visualization an isochrone — from the Greek words iso (same) and chrone (time).
Today, Mapbox is launching an Isochrone API — enabling you to display fast, beautiful isochrones on your map with a single API call.
Isochrones help to visualize answers to the questions we’re often asking when we use a map: “Where can I get a burrito within a ten-minute walk?” or “What delivery area can a driver reach within 30 minutes?”
With a starting point and a mode of travel, the routing engine examines the actual geometry of surrounding roads to delineate an area based on how long it takes to get there. Tendrils extend along fast-moving corridors, and squeeze to wrap around mountains, rivers, and other natural barriers. With the Isochrone API, you can specify up to four contours and style them as you would with any geoJSON.
Head over to the Isochrone API documentation, get a Mapbox API key, and start building with isochrones today!
