Map Radius Tool

To draw a radius on a map, search an address or click any point on the map, then set the distance. The circle appears at once around that centre. Type an exact value, move the slider or tap a preset, and choose miles, kilometers, meters, feet or nautical miles. Drag the diamond handle to resize the circle, or drag the centre dot to move it.

To draw a 50-mile radius around your location, press Locate me and allow location access when your browser asks, then type 50 in the radius box and choose mi. The tool draws a 50-mile (80.47 km) circle centred on your GPS position. That circle covers about 7,854 square miles (20,341 km²). The same steps work for any distance from 33 feet (10 m) to 1,243 miles (2,000 km).

To find cities and towns within a radius, draw the circle and open the Areas inside the circle box under the map. The tool lists every named city, town, neighbourhood and village inside the radius, sorted by distance from the centre. Filter by type, search the list, sort it A–Z, or download it as a CSV.

The list works for circles up to 500 km (311 mi) in radius. Circles over 100 km (62 mi) list cities and towns only, and circles over 250 km (155 mi) list cities only. The tool lists named places, not ZIP codes. ZIP code radius tools work from 2020 Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTAs), which approximate USPS ZIP codes but are not official delivery boundaries (US Census Bureau).

Read the full guide: how to find cities and towns within a radius.

Yes, you can draw up to 8 radius circles on the same map. Choose Add circle, then click the map where each new circle should go. Every circle gets its own colour and name, such as Circle I and Circle II, and a test point counts as within when any circle contains it. Use multiple circles to compare coverage areas, set tiered delivery zones or spot overlapping sales territories.

Map Radius Tool supports 5 distance units: miles (mi), kilometers (km), meters (m), feet (ft) and nautical miles (nmi). Switch units at any time; the circle keeps its size and only the readout changes. A 1-mile radius reads as 1.61 km, 1,609 m, 5,280 ft or 0.87 nmi.

Yes, you can change the radius distance at any time after drawing a circle. Drag the diamond handle on the circle's edge, move the slider, type a new value or tap a preset. Click a circle on the map or in the Circles list first, if you have several. The areas list, measurements and test points update as the radius changes.

The radius measurement is accurate to within 0.5%, and usually within 0.3%. The tool uses the haversine formula, a geodesic calculation that measures distance along the Earth's curvature on a sphere of mean radius 6,371 km (3,959 mi). On a 10-mile (16.09 km) radius, 0.3% is about 160 feet (48 m).

Large circles look stretched toward the poles on the map. The Mercator projection that web maps use causes that shape, and the distance on the ground stays correct.

To check if a location is inside or outside a radius, choose Drop point and click the spot on the map, or search the address and press + Point. The tool labels the point Within or Beyond and shows its exact distance from the centre. The Test points box keeps a running count, such as "3 of 5 points within the radius".

Yes, you can export radius map data in 3 formats: CSV, KML and GeoJSON. The CSV file holds the areas inside the circle with name, type, distance, direction and coordinates, ready for Excel or Google Sheets. KML opens in Google Earth and Google My Maps. GeoJSON opens in QGIS, Mapbox, ArcGIS and geojson.io, and the geojson.io button opens it there directly.

The tool has no image export. Take a screenshot to get a PNG of the map.

Yes, press Copy link to share a radius map with anyone. The link stores every circle, test point and the chosen unit inside the URL, so the person who opens it sees the same circles at the same sizes. Nothing is uploaded to a server, and neither of you needs an account.

Yes, Map Radius Tool is completely free to use. There's no account, sign-up, trial or usage limit. Every feature is free, including multiple circles, the areas list, Copy for GBP and all 3 export formats.

Yes, Map Radius Tool works on mobile phones and tablets in any modern browser, including Safari on iPhone and iPad and Chrome on Android. Tap the map to place a circle, drag the handle to resize it, and press Locate me to start from your GPS position. You don't need to install an app.

A radius map shows straight-line distance in every direction, and a drive-time map shows the area you can reach by road in a set time. A 10-mile radius is a perfect circle. A 15-minute drive-time area has an uneven shape: it stretches along highways and shrinks where roads are slow, rivers block the way or traffic builds up.

Radius maps are faster to make and work anywhere on Earth. Drive-time maps, known as isochrones, need road data, and routing tools such as ArcGIS and Maptive build them. Map Radius Tool draws radius maps.

Read the full comparison: radius map vs drive-time map.