Overview

Measuring population within a city boundary is one of the most direct ways to evaluate demand, coverage, or service potential in Population Explorer (PopEx). Whether you’re analyzing franchise territories, placing new retail sites, or balancing sales territories, PopEx enables fast, accurate city-level population calculations with no GIS setup required.

Population Explorer combines high-resolution gridded datasets such as LandScan and WorldPop with administrative boundaries already preloaded in the platform. That means you can instantly measure the total population, density, and household income within any official boundary — no uploads or custom drawings needed. For advanced workflows, you can still import your own shapes or create buffers, drive-time boundaries or other shapes for custom regions.

Each population result includes income estimates and density values directly in the item summary box, alongside ASB (Area–Sum–Breakdown) metrics. This unified output helps you interpret not only how many people live in an area but also their economic context, supporting decisions in franchise expansion, infrastructure investment, and equitable resource planning.

Steps

Option 1: Use Built-In Administrative Boundaries

1. In the left drawer, click New → Create Item → From Boundary.

2. In the search field, type the name of your city or region (e.g., “Kigali City”).

3. Select the boundary level (e.g., Admin 1, Admin 2) and click Add.

4. PopEx automatically calculates population totals for the selected area. Open the summary panel to view population, density, and household income metrics.

Option 2: Draw or Import Your Own Boundary

1. Click New → Create Folder, then New → Create Item → Custom Polygon to draw your city outline manually.

2. Alternatively, choose Import Shape / Upload to bring in a KML, GeoJSON, or shapefile.

3. Open Layers → Settings and choose between data years in LandScan or WorldPop.

4. Open the item’s summary panel to review total population, density, and income results. Use Export → Excel or Export → KML to save for further analysis.

Verification

For well-defined urban areas, PopEx’s totals should align closely with published census or national statistics. Variations may appear where city limits differ from official boundaries or where population has shifted since the last census. When using administrative boundaries, verify that the correct boundary level (Admin 1 vs Admin 2) was selected — this determines whether you’re analyzing the whole metro area or an inner district.

Further Reading

• Calculate Population in a Driving Distance

• Comparing Population Data Sources

Need More Help?

If you run into issues, please contact us.