A delivery zone map for a flower shop

Project Overview

Last year I worked with Three B’s Flowers in Stony Plain, Alberta, to design a map showing their delivery zones – from Alberta Beach to Edmonton. Jennifer purchased her florist shop in July and, while their sales system calculates delivery zones, she wanted a large custom map for staff and drivers to show delivery areas and fees as a quick reference. 

Map Content

In addition to the delivery zones, this map needed to show all township and range roads in the rural areas and major roads in Edmonton. It also needed to show districts/subdivisions, listed alphabetically below the map with a grid location to more easily locate them on the map.

The Layout Draft

The first step in any project I work on is to create the layout draft to establish the coverage area and extent. In this case I also offered two examples of how to show delivery areas on the map: one a simple circle, and one of driving distances along the road network calculated with the QNEAT plugin in qGIS.

layout draft showing road network in Parkland County, Alberta, and delivery zones around Stony Plain

Jennifer preferred the more abstract look of the polygons generated by the plugin to more accurately reflect distances and to make sure she fairly compensates her drivers.

The Process

The isochrones generated in qGIS often had gaps, or what appeared to be gaps because the polygon extended along the roads. Here’s an example of the 10m and 50km delivery zones.

draft of map showing 10km and 50km delivery zone isochrones around Stony Plain, Alberta

Once I added all the other data layers, I generalized these zones so there were no visible gaps. Because this map would only be a guide, it wasn’t necessary to keep all the details generated by the software.

The Style

Jennifer wanted a modern, clean look. Her logo colours are black and white and the shop decor is natural wood and black/white. 

Before settling on the final design, I sent one option with the zone boundaries in a light brown, and another with roads in a dark grey.

draft of delivery zone map with isochrone borders in light brown
draft of delivery zone map with roads in dark grey

I felt those looked too busy so tweaked one of the styles. For the final design the delivery zones are grey with darker grey border, and roads are white with black case. The subdivisions are pale brown, with the grid to help locate those on the map is in a darker brown.

map of florist shop delivery areas around Stony Plain, Alberta

The Result

We created a poster that is displayed on the shop wall to help staff and drivers see delivery routes and zones at a glance. Jennifer and her team can see the zones and subdivisions/districts at a glance. Instead of adding delivery fees, we left a blank space beside the logo because Jennifer will add the delivery fees herself. She wants to use this map for a long time and delivery fees may change.

If you’re in Edmonton or Parkland County in Alberta, check out Three B’s Flowers!

Please follow me on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook

To make sure you don’t miss the next blog post, sign up to our newsletter to receive news and updates.