What is a catchment in Placemaker?

A catchment is a defined geographic area that represents a service area — the zone from which a facility, service or location draws its population. In Placemaker, you create catchments to access population and dwelling forecast data for a specific area relevant to your planning decisions.

Key Concepts

Service area

A service area (or catchment) is the geographic zone that a facility realistically serves. For example, a school's catchment is the area from which students are likely to be enrolled; a hospital's catchment is the area from which patients are likely to travel.

Catchment boundary methods

In Placemaker, you can define a catchment boundary in two ways:

By radius: A circular boundary drawn at a fixed distance from a centre point. This is the quickest way to scope an area and is useful for initial planning.
By drive time: A boundary shaped by travel time from a centre point, following the road network. This method is more accurate for accessibility-based planning.

Catchment and forecast data

Once a catchment is created in Placemaker, the platform calculates population and dwelling forecast data for the geography within the boundary. This allows you to understand how the population within your service area is expected to grow or change over the forecast period.

How This Applies in Placemaker

When you create a catchment, Placemaker intersects the boundary you draw with the underlying geographic units (SA1 areas) that contain data. The platform then aggregates the data for the areas that fall within the catchment boundary.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I create more than one catchment for the same location?

A: Yes. Create each catchment separately and give each one a unique name — Placemaker requires all catchment names to be unique. Once created, open each catchment individually to review and compare insights.

Q: Does the catchment boundary have to follow SA1 lines?

A: Yes. Catchment boundaries are built from a collection of SA1s, our smallest geographic unit.

Q: Can I share a catchment with a colleague?

A: Not yet. Catchment sharing is planned for a future release. If this is important to your workflow, contact your Account Manager to register your interest.

Q: What data do I see when I open a catchment?

A: You will initially see data based on your organisation's defaults. You can adjust what you see using the filter button. The Insights panel gives you an overview of the current and projected community within the catchment over the forecast period.