Getting started

Start with a location you know and explore its surrounding market. This guide shows how to draw an area, read the results and save locations for comparison. A free account includes radius and custom polygon areas. Paid plans add the other area types and export tools shown here.

1. Drop a pin on a place you know

Sign in and search for an address, city or landmark. Click on the map to draw a radius around a point, then adjust the radius in the toolbar. The analysis panel updates for the selected area.

A 15-minute walking area drawn around a pin at Klyde Warren Park in Dallas, beside a saved walking area in Deep Ellum — A travel area beside another area saved earlier in the same project.

2. Choose the shape that matches the question

Choose Radius for a circle or Polygon to trace a custom boundary. Double-click to finish a polygon. On a paid plan, use Travel time for a driving, walking, cycling or transit area. Rings creates several distance or travel time bands, while Boundary lets you select an existing geographic area.

Central Dallas with the daytime population layer on, showing dense hexagons over downtown and the Arts District — The daytime population layer, switched on from the toolbar, shows where people are during the working day before you draw anything.

3. Read the panel

The panel contains Projects, Areas and Analysis. Use Projects to organize your work and Areas to name and save a shape. Analysis displays population, households, income and other measures. Comparison labels show how selected results relate to the wider market. You can also change the population map layer to explore its history.

The analysis panel showing the Projects, Areas and Analysis sections, with population 13,319, 9,284 households and a median income of $119,819 for the drawn area — The panel for a 15-minute walk, with Projects, Areas and Analysis stacked down the column.

4. Save it to a project

Create a project, name the area and save it. Saved areas remain visible on the map. Add other locations to the same project, then select Analyze project area to review their combined footprint and overlapping population.

The analysis page header for a Dallas project, showing 363,404 people combined, 197.8 square kilometers, median income $91,735 and an overlap notice above the figures — The top of a project's full analysis: the overlap notice, the combined figures and their index scores against the metro.

5. Open the full analysis

Select Analyze project area to open the project report. Review the location comparisons and the sections available on your plan. Paid plans include benchmarks, employment measures, combined demographic tables and exports. Use the Assistant tab to ask questions about an area or your saved projects.

Population over time for a Dallas project from 2016 to 2025, with the combined total drawn as two series and a table of figures per location beneath — Population history for the combined footprint and each location, from the full analysis page.

Get help with your first analysis

Email contact@marketground.io with your question. The methodology page explains the sources and calculations, and the pricing page shows what each plan includes.

Create a free account to start on a place you know.