Determine the route a ship should take accounting for the ocean currents and the wind?

wesape

Hi! How the path distance tools work page (https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/tool-reference/spatial-analyst/how-the-path-distance-tools-work.htm) gives out a few examples on how the path distance analysis could be used. One of them is determining the route a ship should take accounting for the ocean currents and the wind.

I think I understand the wind bit (calculate time to cross pixel from wind/ship speed and then use horizontal factor to take the directionality into account), but how exactly can the currents be added to the path distance tool? All help will be greatly appreciated!

DanPatterson

Most likely through the horizontal and vertical cost factors

How the horizontal and vertical factors affect path distance—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

beyond distance between the cells, you would have to consider whether you were travelling with the current (lower cost) but had a wind in your face (higher cost).  These costs you would have to establish and associate with the directional component.  

This is where "human-ware" would have to intervene, unless you had a relationship between direction and the "cost" when the phenomenon was absent