Isochrones and Transport Accessibility

Isochrones represent areas reachable from a starting point within a given time limit along a transport network. This functionality enables analysis of transport accessibility using pedestrian, automobile, public transport graphs, or their combination.


The library provides several methods for generating isochrones depending on the required level of detail and visualization.


Baseline Isochrones

Show a single area reachable within a specified time.

objectnat.get_accessibility_isochrones(isochrone_type, points, weight_value, weight_type, nx_graph, **kwargs)[source]

Calculate accessibility isochrones from input points based on the provided city graph.

Supports two types of isochrones:
  • ‘radius’: Circular buffer-based isochrones

  • ‘ways’: Road network-based isochrones

Parameters:
  • isochrone_type (Literal['radius', 'ways']) –

    Type of isochrone to calculate:

    • ”radius”: Creates circular buffers around reachable nodes

    • ”ways”: Creates polygons based on reachable road network

  • points (geopandas.GeoDataFrame) – GeoDataFrame containing source points for isochrone calculation.

  • weight_value (float) – Maximum travel time (minutes) or distance (meters) threshold.

  • weight_type (Literal['time_min', 'length_meter']) –

    Type of weight calculation:

    • ”time_min”: Time-based accessibility in minutes

    • ”length_meter”: Distance-based accessibility in meters

  • nx_graph (networkx.Graph) – NetworkX graph representing the transportation network. Must contain CRS and speed attributes for time calculations.

  • **kwargs (Any) –

    Additional parameters:

    • buffer_factor: Size multiplier for buffers (default: 0.7)

    • road_buffer_size: Buffer size for road edges in meters (default: 5)

Returns:

Tuple containing:

  • isochrones: GeoDataFrame with calculated isochrone polygons

  • pt_stops: Public transport stops within isochrones (if available)

  • pt_routes: Public transport routes within isochrones (if available)

Return type:

tuple[gpd.GeoDataFrame, gpd.GeoDataFrame | None, gpd.GeoDataFrame | None]

isochrone_ways_15_min

Isochrone for road network within 15 minutes.


isochrone_radius_15_min

Isochrone using radius-based method (15 min).


isochrone_3points_radius_8_min

Isochrones for three start points (8 min).


Stepped Isochrones

Show accessibility ranges divided into time intervals (e.g., 5, 10, 15 minutes).

objectnat.get_accessibility_isochrone_stepped(isochrone_type, point, weight_value, weight_type, nx_graph, step=None, **kwargs)[source]

Calculate stepped accessibility isochrones for a single point with specified intervals.

Parameters:
  • isochrone_type (Literal['radius', 'ways', 'separate']) –

    Visualization method for stepped isochrones:

    • "radius": Voronoi-based in circular buffers

    • "ways": Voronoi-based in road network polygons

    • "separate": Circular buffers for each step

  • point (geopandas.GeoDataFrame) – Single source point for isochrone calculation (uses first geometry if multiple provided).

  • weight_value (float) – Maximum travel time (minutes) or distance (meters) threshold.

  • weight_type (Literal['time_min', 'length_meter']) –

    Type of weight calculation:

    • ”time_min”: Time-based in minutes

    • ”length_meter”: Distance-based in meters

  • nx_graph (networkx.Graph) – NetworkX graph representing the transportation network.

  • step (float, optional) –

    Interval between isochrone steps. Defaults to:

    • 100 meters for distance-based

    • 1 minute for time-based

  • **kwargs (Any) –

    Additional parameters:

    • buffer_factor: Size multiplier for buffers (default: 0.7)

    • road_buffer_size: Buffer size for road edges in meters (default: 5)

Returns:

Tuple containing:

  • stepped_isochrones: GeoDataFrame with stepped polygons and distance/time attributes

  • pt_stops: Public transport stops within isochrones (if available)

  • pt_routes: Public transport routes within isochrones (if available)

Return type:

tuple[gpd.GeoDataFrame, gpd.GeoDataFrame | None, gpd.GeoDataFrame | None]


stepped_isochrone_ways_15_min

Stepped isochrones for road network (5–15 min).


stepped_isochrone_radius_15_min

Stepped radius-based isochrones (5–15 min).


stepped_isochrone_separate_15_min

Separate stepped zones visualized per time interval.


Example notebook

Isochrone Analysis from Points of Interest