How to Figure Out Your 5km Radius Using These Tools

Melbourne has entered stage four restrictions and that means there’s now a hard limit — a five kilometre radius — on how far you can travel to shop and exercise. For many that’s a hard thing to measure but thankfully, there are a number of tools out there to help you figure it out.

From 6pm on Sunday 2 August, tough new restrictions were put in place in the Melbourne metropolitan area in an attempt to halt the spread of coronavirus plaguing the city.

With these new restrictions came a hard limit on the distance you can travel from your place of residence for certain activities.

While you are still allowed to leave the house for exercise, you must stay within a five kilometre radius of your home. When it comes to shopping for essentials — of which you can only do once a day — you will also need to make sure it’s within that five kilometre radius or is the nearest supermarket to where you live.

Premier says: For partners that don’t live together you must stay where you are at 8pm. Not an excuse to travel after then. The 5km radius applies from that point you are staying. @abcmelbourne

— Richard Willingham (@rwillingham) August 5, 2020

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews also confirmed on 5 August that while partner visits are still permitted, you’ll need to consider this your place of residence when visiting. That means the five-kilometre radius would apply to a partner’s home when you’re visiting and when curfew kicks in, you’ll be expected to bunker in there.

Now to the important part — how to figure out where the five-kilometre radius lands in relation to your home.

The best 5km radius tools

There are a few handy sites to help you determine that invisible line you’re not allowed to pass with the new stage four restrictions.

First off, the Victorian government offers its own tool to help you work out the cut offs. Enter your, or your partner’s, home address or a street name and it’ll provide a circle of the areas you’re permitted to travel to under the restrictions.

There’s also another useful site called KM from home, which lets you drop multiple pins to see whether you and another person’s radius intersects. That way, you could conceivably meet to undertake exercise together as long as physical distancing measures are followed.

The Age also offers a handy interactive map similar to the Victorian government’s if you need a second opinion. It’s also very simple to use — pop in your address and see where the circle falls.

Finally, we have another radius tool developed by Esri Australia — the same people behind the useful COVID cases Australia map. This tool lets you plop in your address and provides a list of the nearest supermarkets, COVID testing clinics, bottle shops and open space areas. Four very handy locations during these times.

Know a better tool? Let us know in the comments.