How to calculate a road distance from a point to polygon for a very large dataset?

Question

I have a polygon shapefile that contains millions of rows. I need to calculate a road distance from each of the polygon to a point. I have tried Network Analyst but that required clicking from one edge to the other to get the road distance. This would be impossible to work with a very huge dataset, Is there a way that my problem can be solved. I have tried near analysis and that wouldnt work if I want to get the road distance.

JaySandhu · Answer

Origin-Destination solver gives network distances, NOT straight line distances. It's goal is to return the shortest path distances quickly and so does not bother computing and returning back the shape of the actual shortest path taken. If you do not need the resulting path shape then use Origin-Destination solver. IF you need the route shape geometry then use the Closest Facility solver. It is similar to OD but takes longer to run as it will return back the route shape geometry. Network analysis solvers work on shortest paths on the network, not euclidean.

Jay Sandhu

KarunaPaudel · Answer

Thank you Jay Sandhu,

I used origin-Destination solver with Network analysis which I think doesnt give the road distance but rather a straight line or euclidean distance. And yes I need to find road distance from each polygon to the same one point.

JaySandhu · Answer

Network Analysis allows you to load locations from point features. You do not have to click on the map to set your start and end locations. See the Add Locations tool.

In your case, you will need to convert the polygon to one point (centroid) or come up with a method to convert the polygon into a meaningful point(s). For example this could be all the points on the street that the polygon intersects with.

Also, do you need to find distance from each polygon to the same one point? In that case you could use the Origin-Destination solver (if you do not need the shortest path shape) or Closest Facility solver instead of the route solver.

Jay Sandhu