ArcGIS Pro 2.5: What is the mathematical formula based on which the “cost distance” is calculated?

JamalNUMAN

ArcGIS Pro 2.5: What is the mathematical formula based on which the “cost distance” is calculated at any cell?

 

For example, in the screenshot below, the “cost distance” at the cell number “152” is “144.85”. in return, the value of the “cost distance” at the cell number “148” is “120” which equals the value of “Euclidean distance” at that cell.

 

What is the mathematical formula based on which the “cost distance” of a cell is derived from “cost raster” and “Euclidean distance” of that cell?

 

For simplicity, all the cells of “cost raster” is made to have the value one. I observed that the equation below is valid to calculate the “cost distance” at some cells (but not all):

 

Cost Distance = Cost Raster * Euclidean Distance

Anonymous User

Jamal:

a cost raster cannot have cells with zeros. The outputs will not be valid.

cost distance computes network distance (sum of edge weights) over a set of network nodes and edges. The input cost raster is used to assign weights to those edges. A zero weight on an edge means you could travel over that edge as many times as you wanted without increasing your cost, so your shortest path through a set of zero valued edges is not defined. One way to think of a zero weight is that it means you could be in multiple locations at the same time.

The backlink raster records the set of directions you must follow when you start from an arbitrary location and want to use the shortest path to get back to the source.

As i explained above, euclidean distance will equal cost distance when you travel in certain directions, as is the case with cell 46 in your example.