Isochrones - more relevant than you might think.

r4dent

r4dent

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Before I retired I did a lot of work with Isochrones, but back then the costs were £ks and they took forever on our big main frames.
These days they are available on the internet, work instantaneously and are FREE!

What are they?
In simple terms they are lines drawn on a map connecting places that can be reached in the same time.
"ISO" comes from the Greek word isos, which means "equal"
"chronos" comes from the Greek word Khronos, which means "time"

What use are they?
They produce a map showing where you can get to in a given time from your starting point.

And there is more .... the app can also show where you can get with in a given distance of your starting point which is useful for EV owners.

If you want to have a play go to
www.smappen.com

Territory mapping - Analyze your market and find the best location - Smappen

The quickest and easiest territory mapping software that you ever had. Trusted by 850 customers for data-driven decisions
www.smappen.com www.smappen.com
 
I can think of one immediate use: we go to several events each year and need to 'pre-position' ourselves the day before to ensure we arrive as the 'gates' open. So, knowing we need to be an hour away, we can use this to locate a convenient pub stop or park up. Thanks!
 
If I have this right with my severely hungover brain it shows you how far you can travel in any direction from a given point in a selected time. Interesting but its not entirely accurate. I can easily get to Penrith or even Ullswater within an hour from where I live. I wonder if you can alter the settings.

 
barryd said:
If I have this right with my severely hungover brain it shows you how far you can travel in any direction from a given point in a selected time. Interesting but its not entirely accurate. I can easily get to Penrith or even Ullswater within an hour from where I live. I wonder if you can alter the settings.

Click to expand...
Default setting is Biff Chariot. ;)
 
barryd said:
If I have this right with my severely hungover brain it shows you how far you can travel in any direction from a given point in a selected time. Interesting but its not entirely accurate. I can easily get to Penrith or even Ullswater within an hour from where I live. I wonder if you can alter the settings.
Click to expand...

I would definitely appreciate that feature (the mainfame versions allowed different speeds at different times of the day / day of the week.)
I haven't found that feature yet, but it may be in the non free versions.

I travel at different speeds in different vehicles: Motorbike / car / Moho / Moho with trailer.
At the moment I use the default speeds and add a bit of time if I'm in a slow vehicle.
 
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r4dent said:
I would definitely appreciate that feature (the mainfame versions allowed different speeds at different times of the day / day of the week.)
I haven't found that feature yet, but it may be in the non free versions.

I travel at different speeds in different vehicles: Motorbike / car / Moho / Moho with trailer.
At the moment I use the default speeds and add a bit of time if I'm in a slow vehicle.
Click to expand...

Its very much a marketing tool by the looks of it. Probably very useful for Franchising (I used to work for an international Franchise many moons ago). We used stuff like this but nothing as clever as this. I even wrote postcode mapping software internally. Looks like the free version shows you very little info but still interesting. I can find out stats about my postcode area or others nearby, draw my own maps based on travel time or other criteria. I can start to see how this could be a useful business tool. You cant do much with the free version though. An interesting find.

More here. https://www.smappen.com/solution/#menu

 
LOL! interesting stats. DL11 above with 5000+ inhabitants compared to tiny DL3 (Darlington) 43000+

I suppose I only needed to look out of any window to see nothing but fields and hills. in any direction to work that one out. :D

 
I asked it to find all the IT Consultants in a selected area around where I live. You have to create an account to do that but you can use a fake email address and I didnt have to verify it. However it only allows you one search.

I wonder where it gets its data as I dont come up! I think I removed myself from Google maps and elsewhere on the web though.

 
Robmac said:
I'm probably being a bit thick (as usual) but what exactly does it buy you which a GPS with POI's for service stations and the like doesn't?
Click to expand...
If you look at barry's post you will see a long 'arm' going down the A1, but in some directions an hour takes you much less distance. POI's on a satnav don't give you the travelling time they just show you distance 'as the crow flys'.
 
They do if you tell it to navigate there though Colin and more often than not your destination is more focussed than the 360° options.
 
colinm said:
If you look at barry's post you will see a long 'arm' going down the A1, but in some directions an hour takes you much less distance. POI's on a satnav don't give you the travelling time they just show you distance 'as the crow flys'.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean Colin and yes the distance can be considerably longer than as the Crow flies. But if you're planning a journey it would give you some idea and as Kev says you can always tap on a POI to get the real distance, ETA and any traffic holdups or diversions.
 
Pudsey Bear said:
They do if you tell it to navigate there though Colin and more often than not your destination is more focussed than the 360° options.
Click to expand...
But AFAIK that's not the point of the app.
Lets say we want to go out for the day and only want to spend a maximum of one hour driving, oras Geof posted, want to be within an hours drive of a location for travel the next day, a sat nav won't tell you this unless you spend time checking each individual POI.
 
Robmac said:
I'm probably being a bit thick (as usual) but what exactly does it buy you which a GPS with POI's for service stations and the like doesn't?
Click to expand...

Its not really at all to do with navigation Rob as I discovered this morning. Its a very powerful marketing tool for business really for mapping territories etc and drilling down data for those territories. I found it interesting as its similar to what I did in the 90s and some of the noughties.
 
Traffic Cop: 'Excuse me. sir, do you know what speed you were traveling at?'

Heisenberg: 'No, Officer, but I do know where I'm going ...' :ROFLMAO:

Steve
 
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