network analysis - very noobie user!

[AlisonMackenzie]

Hi i'm trying to complete a project looking at where people take their kids to daycare in comparison to where they live or where they work. If someone could point me in the right direction of how I even begin and what tools I might need to use it would be much appreciated. I have been doing a course for the year so have a limited knowledge of each area but have done nothing like this. (wondering why I chose this project actually but too late to change now)

Thanks

[DanPatterson_Retired]

you could start with the Network Analyst help files    and the Network analyst Tutorial   This of course, is predicated on the assumption that you have access to this extension.

[AlisonMackenzie]

yeah there seems to be a lots of stuff about closest facility. Was thinking about Generate near table but none of it seems to be exactly what I want. I think generate near table does the eclidean distance and I want the distance along the arcs of the network. I don't want to analyse what the closest facility is to the home or work address but the spread of addresses of people who send their kids to that daycare and compare it to another daycare and to their work addresses to see if people send there kids to daycare based on distance to home or distance to work or neither and if this changes at other centres.

[DanPatterson_Retired]

perhaps the NA service area option is more in tune with what you want