The Radius Filter
Alongside sorting, a browse view can filter to a radius — everything within five miles, ten, twenty-five.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Layout & Pages:
- Browse Views — the builder — the radius steps and the unit
Architect Panel → Integration & Connections:
- Postcode Lookup — the distances this filters on
Setting it up
Enter the steps as a comma-separated list — 1,3,5,10,25,50. They are cleaned up for you: blanks and anything non-numeric are dropped, duplicates removed, and the rest sorted ascending. Leave it blank and no radius filter is offered.
The steps are in the view's chosen unit, so a view set to kilometres offers kilometre steps.
Choosing the steps
Match them to how your catalogue is actually distributed. A national directory wants 10, 25, 50 and 100; a city one wants 1, 2 and 5. Steps where nothing ever falls are dead options that make the filter look broken.
Five or six is plenty. A long list of radii is a harder decision than it deserves to be, and visitors mostly want "near me" and "a bit further".
Always include a way out
The filter offers an "any distance" option alongside the steps. Make sure your smallest step is not so tight that a visitor's first attempt returns nothing — the most common cause of somebody leaving is an empty result they do not know how to widen.
Unplaced records are excluded
This is the important behavioural difference from sorting. When sorting by distance, a record with no usable postcode appears at the end. When a radius filter is applied, it is excluded.
That is the correct answer to the question being asked. "Show me everything within five miles" is a request for proof of proximity, and a record whose location is unknown cannot supply it. Including it would assert something you do not know.
It does mean a radius filter over a catalogue with poor postcode data quietly hides records. Check how many cannot be placed before offering the filter.
It needs a starting point
The radius has nothing to measure from until the visitor supplies a postcode or uses their location, so it only becomes meaningful once they have. Design the interface so that is obvious rather than presenting a filter that appears to do nothing.
Straight-line, again
"Within 5 miles" means within five miles as the crow flies. In a city that is a good approximation of convenience; across a river, a firth or a mountain it is not. Where the difference matters to your visitors, say which you mean.
Combine it with your other filters
The radius sits alongside the view's ordinary filters, so "within 10 miles" and "evening sessions" work together. That combination is usually what somebody actually wants, and it is worth checking the counts still look sensible once both are applied.
Worked example
A community directory offers 1, 3, 5, 10 and 25 miles with "any distance" as the default. Analysis of a month's use shows almost nobody selects 25, and a good many select 1 and get nothing — so the steps are changed to 2, 5, 10 and 20, and the empty-result rate falls.
Recommendations
- Match the steps to your data's spread, not to round numbers.
- Keep "any distance" available and prominent.
- Check your unplaced record count before offering a radius.
- Say that distance is straight-line where it could mislead.