How SEGRO Analyses Millions of Locations with the TravelTime API

SEGRO is a leading UK Real Estate Investment Trust and one of Europe’s largest owners, asset managers and developers of modern warehousing and industrial property. With more than 1,400 customers across logistics, retail and distribution, the company develops and invests in industrial real estate across the UK and Europe.

For SEGRO, choosing the right locations is critical. The success of logistics facilities and distribution centres depends on how easily people, goods and services can reach them. Luke Badger, Director of BI & Advanced Analytics, at SEGRO explained, “Where SEGRO gets its value is putting our buildings where people want them — and building spaces where people want to work.”

To support a more data-driven approach to site selection, the team implemented the TravelTime API. This allows the team to analyse accessibility using travel time rather than distance, enabling automated location analysis across millions of potential sites across Europe.

Why Time Matters

“It’s actually time that matters, not distance.”

Lucas Badger

Director of BI & Advanced Analytics

Traditional location analysis often relies on physical distance. But distance alone does not reflect how accessible a location actually is.

Travel time provides a much more accurate measure of accessibility, especially in logistics, where delivery speed and reach are critical.

As Lucas Badger, Director of BI & Advanced Analytics explained: “We’re finding that it’s actually time that matters, not distance. The reality is that distance doesn’t tell us how fast you can get somewhere. This is particularly true for our urban customers who might want to know how quickly they can deliver food or groceries to their customers. So, when it comes to scoring locations across Europe, we want to take a time-based approach instead of a distance-based approach.”

By analysing locations through the lens of travel time, SEGRO can better understand how accessible potential sites are and make more informed decisions about where to develop new industrial and logistics assets.

Discover TravelTime solutions here.

How SEGRO Uses TravelTime

Location scoring for logistics and distribution

SEGRO uses travel time data to support location scoring, helping the team evaluate the potential of sites for different industrial and logistics use cases.

The team built an internal analytics tool that integrates the TravelTime API, allowing them to run large-scale accessibility analysis across Europe. Using bulk travel time calculations, they evaluate locations and generate scores based on how accessible they are for specific business needs.

“We’re taking travel time data in bulk and producing analysis across the whole of Europe to get a much broader view.”

Lucas Badger

Director of BI & Advanced Analytics

Different logistics use cases require different travel time perspectives. For example:

• Urban logistics and delivery companies may prioritise locations where large populations can be reached within 20 minutes
• Regional distribution hubs focus more on how far goods can travel within a longer time frame from 4–8 hours

By modelling these travel time catchments, SEGRO can evaluate locations much more objectively than with traditional distance-based analysis.

Layering travel time with additional datasets

SEGRO also combines travel time data with additional datasets such as population and census data.

This enables the team to measure how many people can be reached from a particular location within a given travel time.

SEGRO’s Director of BI & Advanced Analytics explained, “It’s been great to analyse the data we get from TravelTime alongside other datasets like census or population data to tell us how many people we can reach from certain locations.”

By layering accessibility data with demographic insights, SEGRO gains a deeper real-world understanding of the potential demand and suitability of locations across Europe. Travel time data is one of the main factors now considered in several real estate investment decisions.

Why SEGRO Chose TravelTime

Accurate time-based analysis

TravelTime’s approach to modelling accessibility based on real travel times rather than straight-line distance gives SEGRO a far more accurate view of location accessibility. This allows the team to identify locations that are genuinely well connected, rather than those that simply appear close on a map.

Additionally, TravelTime is recognised for the accuracy of our travel time calculations. Our models consistently perform strongly alongside leading providers such as Google, Mapbox, HERE and TomTom, while offering additional flexibility for advanced analysis.

TravelTime’s driving models are updated weekly, ensuring accessibility insights reflect the latest road network changes and traffic patterns. Our isochrone calculations are also designed to produce more precise catchment areas, helping teams understand exactly how far people or goods can travel within a given time.

TravelTime also provides a range of custom parameters, allowing organisations like SEGRO to tailor travel time calculations to specific logistics scenarios or operational requirements.

Try for yourself in the TravelTime playground.

High-performance analysis at scale

SEGRO runs large-scale accessibility analysis across millions of locations and scenarios across Europe.

Using the TravelTime API, the team can process travel time data in bulk, automatically analyse vast datasets and continuously refresh insights as part of their wider location analysis: “We gather and refresh travel time data on a rolling basis and incorporate it into our wider analysis of locations across Europe,” said Luke Badger, Director of BI & Advanced Analytics.

This high-performance, accurate approach enables SEGRO to identify logistics hotspots and opportunities that might otherwise be overlooked.

“We’re analysing millions of locations automatically and to a much higher level of accuracy.”

Lucas Badger

Director of BI & Advanced Analytics

Predictable cost at scale

Unlike some travel time providers that charge per individual request, TravelTime enables SEGRO to run large-scale analysis at a predictable, fixed cost.

This allows SEGRO to model millions of locations and multiple logistics scenarios without costs increasing with each query. The ability to perform travel time analysis at scale is critical for supporting SEGRO’s data-driven location strategy.

Read more on why non-transactional API pricing works for your business here.

Fast implementation and developer-friendly API

TravelTime’s modern API and clear documentation made integration straightforward for the SEGRO data team.

This meant SEGRO could move rapidly from concept to implementation, embedding travel time calculations directly into their location scoring workflows. Clear documentation, practical examples and support from the TravelTime team helped ensure the integration process was smooth.

As a result, SEGRO’s data team was able to focus on building their location analysis platform and running large-scale accessibility modelling across Europe, rather than spending time overcoming technical integration challenges.

“The API is built in a very modern way — the documentation and support from the team are great, and I’ve had no problems understanding how to use it.”

Lucas Badger

Director of BI & Advanced Analytics

Results

Since implementing the TravelTime API, SEGRO now runs automated accessibility analysis across 7–8 million locations across Europe. This has significantly improved the accuracy, speed and scale of their location analysis.

Travel time insights now play an important role in supporting real estate investment decisions, helping SEGRO identify promising sites for industrial and logistics development, while building and retaining their customer base.

“With the TravelTime API, we’re able to perform location analysis for the whole of Europe. We’re talking about millions of locations that we can analyse automatically.”

Lucas Badger

Director of BI & Advanced Analytics

Build Accurate Location Intelligence at Scale

If accurate travel times matter to your business at scale, TravelTime can help.

Whether you’re analysing logistics networks, selecting new sites, or modelling accessibility across millions of locations, TravelTime provides the data and performance needed to power better location decisions.

Chat to us about your use case. Or get started with your free API trial.