Network Data Set

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02-27-2012 08:20 PM
AnarJofaryv
New Contributor
Hi,

        I am a student trying to do a Vehicle Routing Problem for Municipal Solid Waste Collection using ArcGIS Network Analyst. This is for my term project. I have went
through the Network Analyst tutorial and the on-line VRP training offered by ESRI. However, I am getting stuck on the step involving creating Network Dataset. Also, I went through the forum trying to see if there are any related topics and go from there. I tried to create one on my own but it did not work. My questions are:

-Is there a ready Network Dataset for any of Canadian cities?
-My second option is to do it for any US city with the available Network Dataset, if there are any available?
-Is there a source for Street/Roads Network Datasets that you could suggest?

    I hope my questions were not confusing (I am just a student). I would greatly appreciate any tips/help. Thank you very much.
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4 Replies
AlexeyTereshenkov
Regular Contributor III
Hey,

-Is there a ready Network Dataset for any of Canadian cities?
-Is there a source for Street/Roads Network Datasets that you could suggest?


Regarding data sources:
a. ESRI has a separate product �?? ESRI StreetMap Premium, which provides access to the street data in SDC format both for North America and Europe. This product can be used in the Network Analyst directly and no data processing is required. Be aware that these network data are for read-only use and no edits to data can be applied. This data product provides the best performance as well as robust functionality, yet the least customization flexibility, because one can only use the street data as it is. It covers both USA and Canada which are of interest in your case.
http://www.esri.com/data/streetmap/index.html

b. Navteq Navstreets (http://www.nn4d.com/site/global/products_licensing/navdataformats/navstreets/p_navstreets.jsp) and TeleAtlas (now TomTom) Multinet (http://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/licensing/products/maps/multinet/) are one of the most often used products for network analysis purposes. The data is delivered in ESRI Shape format (file geodatabase coming) and need to be processed in order to be used with the Network Analyst extension. Navteq does provide Navstreets data in the compiled ESRI File Geodatabase from the Q1 2011 yet some data processing still will be required. Depending on how much information you want to include into your network dataset, you will need to perform some joins and geometry processing operations as well as use ArcGIS geoprocessing tools or scripting language, for instance, Python. The data coverage includes the whole world. Esri has developed a tool for processing the raw street data into a routable network dataset which can be used directly in ArcGIS Desktop with Network Analyst. I've been using those tools for a while.
http://resources.arcgis.com/gallery/file/geoprocessing/details?entryID=7DD58DB5-1422-2418-A0EC-0929C...

c. OpenStreetMap �?? a collaborative Web project that aims at creating a free digital world map. One can download all the data including, but not limited to, street network data (http://downloads.cloudmade.com/). Street data do not have much attributive information so one would need to perform a lot of manual data editing. The data coverage includes the whole world.

d. TIGER (Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing system) data from the U.S. Census Bureau is a good option to get the street data. Visit U.S. Census Bureau for more information or proceed to the ESRI ArcData Web interface for direct downloading available data. Street data do have a lot of attributive information, but one will still need to perform a lot of manual data editing. The data coverage includes only the USA.
http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/tgrshp2011/tgrshp2011.html
You can choose to download data just for one county as well: http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/geo/shapefiles2011/main

e. You can ask your local government agency if they have street data which you can use for the term project.

My second option is to do it for any US city with the available Network Dataset, if there are any available?

Since you have ArcTutor, if I got you right, you have a street network dataset for San Francisco which is being used for most tutorials.

However, I am getting stuck on the step involving creating Network Dataset

There is a very good tutorial on how to create a network dataset from Esri: http://support.esri.com/en/knowledgebase/techarticles/detail/32890. I've gone through this, too.

For a long time ago, Esri had a instructor-led course Working with ArcGIS Network Analyst (for v. 9.2 or 9.3). Maybe you could contact your local Esri distributor to see if you could go through the course materials which are relevant for your term project.

I have went through the Network Analyst tutorial and the on-line VRP training offered by ESRI

Where does this on-line tutorial come from? Maybe it would be relevant for me as well 🙂
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AnarJofaryv
New Contributor
Alexey,

       I appreciate you taking time to answer my questions. I think I might as well use the Network Analyst example from the tutorial data that came on the CD or the VRP example from the ESRI's training. The on-line training course is called Network Analysis Using ArcGIS 10 offered through http://training.esri.com
which is an example from Florida.
       I think by trying to do an example from scratch I am going over my head for a beginner. I'll use San Francisco as an example. Spasibo.
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RobertGarrity
Esri Contributor
One other option to add to Alexey's list is the standard (non-premium) StreetMap data, which is available to ArcGIS users at no additional cost on the Data and Maps media. This StreetMap network doesn't have as many options and isn't as current as the premium version, but it covers North America (or Europe) and should be sufficient for what you want to do.

If you don't find Data and Maps on your GIS lab's computers, maybe you can ask your lab manager to download it from the Esri Customer Care site or get the DVD, which he/she may already have, and install it.

Best,
Robert
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AnarJofaryv
New Contributor
Robert,

              Thank you very much. I am looking at that option now as well. Have a great day.
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