# Draw an area around each shape

Model / geo

A variant of [Work with geography](https://meridian.online/operations/work-with-geography).

Grow or shrink each geometry by a distance or drive time to make a buffer or trade area.

Page: <https://meridian.online/operations/work-with-geography/draw-an-area-around-each-shape>

## Status

Not built yet.

arcform does not do this yet. [Its place on the roadmap](https://meridian.online/roadmap#work-with-geography)

## What other tools call it

Meridian's classification; an independent blind rating agreed on 95.7% of 324 rows (variant, version 3).

- Alteryx Designer: [`Buffer`](https://help.alteryx.com/current/en/designer/tools/spatial/buffer-tool.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Alteryx Designer: [`Non Overlap Drivetime`](https://help.alteryx.com/current/en/designer/tools/spatial/non-overlapping-drivetime-tool.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Alteryx Designer: [`Trade Area`](https://help.alteryx.com/current/en/designer/tools/spatial/trade-area-tool.html) (read 2026-09-27)
- Duckle: [`Spatial Buffer`](https://github.com/slothflowlabs/duckle/blob/f85f8960edfb6efbf4cb89d58a7b32e16df0e867/website/docs/components.html) (read 2026-09-25)
- Ibis: [`GeoBuffer`](https://github.com/ibis-project/ibis/blob/05d2b293344e86cb41c1a426071734f7e270335a/ibis/expr/operations/geospatial.py) (read 2026-09-27)