Find nearest point on a line (and M value)

Question

I have a point feature class (BUS_STATIONS), and an M-enabled line feature class (ROADS)

We are trying to build an attribute rule on the BUS_STATIONS feature class, that would populate a field with the M-value of the nearest point of the road. NOTE: I don't want the M-value of the nearest vertex (which could be far away) but rather the nearest portion of the line. What I was thinking to do was the following:

1. Find the coordinates of that nearest point (not vertex) on the line

2. Then find the M-values of the vertex before and after that point and calculate the M value.

But right now I'm stuck with step #1. Any ideas how to achieve that?

Thank you

Chaim

a point feature class, that will populate the M value of the nearest li

ChaimSchwartzIroads · Accepted Answer

We eventually got it to work, thanks to our amazing developers Eduard and Sara. The logic we use is basically:

1. Calculate the distance between the BUS_STATION point and all the vertices in the adjacent ROAD.

2. For all segments between vertices, calculate the nearest distance from the BUS_STATION to that segment (length of line perpendicular to that segment).

3. Choose the shortest of all outcomes and retrieve the M-value of that point.