Service area calculation without Network Analyst

[LisaAngstadt]

I need to calculate all the roads within a two -mile DRIVING distance from our county's fire stations. The only solution I'm finding to do the calculations is to use Network Analyst but we do not have that extension. We do have Spatial Analyst however. Is there any EASY way I can make these calculations without having Network Analyst?
Thanks so much
Lisa

[JoeBorgione]

Back in the day, I worked as a heavy duty diesel truck mechanic.  My neck was as red as the day is long.  I had a huge tool chest full of simple to sophisticated tools.  Could I tear an engine apart and rebuild it with a pair of pliers and a hammer?  Perhaps....

The thing about complex analyses like '2-mile DRIVING distance' is you need fairly complex tools to perform the analyses.  Calculating driving distance from a set of given points is not a trivial matter.  It takes good data and the proper approach.  That said....

You might be able to cobble together something by creating a 2 mile radius circle with the station as the center; then spatially select all of the your centerlines that fall within or intersect or what ever that circle and sum the length attributes of the centerlines selected.  It'll be an iterative if not tedious approach, but you might be able to figure something out as you go.

Hope this helps-

[LisaAngstadt]

This is exactly the method I was going to use BUT really was hoping there would be something easier outside of Network Analyst. Thanks for confirming my theory....

[JoeBorgione]

You should print this thread out and leave it conspicuously on your bosses desk.  Maybe (s)he'll get the point and you'll get NA.

I use network analyst all day everyday for dispatching fire/ems using a 'quickest route' (fastest response) application.

Good luck-

[LisaAngstadt]

I was able to get a 60-day trial version of Network Analyst from ESRI...wow, works like a charm!! I showed the powers-that-be the results of my analysis and it may be enough to convince them we NEED this extension!
Thanks for the feedback Joe! Take care