I'm not even sure where to start with asking this question, so please pardon my lack of knowledge and naivety of terminology. I appreciate any advice.
Just as an example, let's say I have a multi-point line that represents the path of a highway on one layer. On another layer, I have property boundaries. My end goal would be to show how many and which properties the highway would touch or enter into. Now, lets say the highway is 40 feet wide with 10 feet of right-of-way on each side, how would I figure that into it? Then, how close is this highway to streams, crops, etc... And how would I be able to demonstrate said information on an interactive map (which, from what I'm learning, is the easiest part of this).
This is just an example. I'm looking for what topics I would need to learn to figure out the above example problem.
Additional info:
I am a web developer who is used to working with JS and Python - if that is needed. Many moons ago, I worked at a civil engineering firm and got some basic ArcView training to make public info maps and graphics. In watching online videos and reading articles, it's all coming back and it all makes sense. I'm just tired of reading/watching 'this is how you add a shape layer' type of material. I don't know what terms to search for what I want to learn. I have a personal license, if that makes a difference.
I didn't tag this because "I don't know what to Google" didn't seem appropriate.