BLUF: Please add Origin Name, and Destination Name as separate columns in "Lines" instead of just the concatenated "O - D" Name column because the current process of joining the Lines outputs back to the original data is needlessly multistep and cumbersome.
Context: We use Network analyst OD cost matrix to perform analytics estimating access to markets, schools, and healthcare facilities to enable transport planning to improve the baseline level of resiliency of the road network. This means we are often running OD cost matrices over and over with slight changes or with different flood scenarios. Ultimately this data is linked up with household survey points or census records to see how various accessibility issues impact education attainment, welfare, income, etc.
Current Process: we load the point data into the origins with the Facility ID as the Name, and the destination points with the Destination facility ID as the name. When we solve, we get the Name colum, which is the concatenation of "Origin facility ID - Destination Facility ID", and then the two columns of OriginID (Which is the OID in the Origin layer) and the DestiantionID (Which is the OID in the Destination layer). These are not the OIDs of the original inputs. The whole point of the exercise is get this information back onto the original inputs out of the OD Cost Matrix group. That means that no matter what, we either have to join the field from the Origins to the Lines joining on the OriginID field to get just the Name (Origin Facility ID), or I have to add a new column Orig_name and calculate it using Calculate Field: !Name!.split(None, 1)[0]. Everytime I solve the OD matrix, I run the field calculator to get the name to join back to my input data.
The underlying assumption of the current Lines outputs seems to assume that the user is only interested in performing a single OD Matrix, and will output or visualize that single output from within the OD Cost Matrix group. The moment an analyst tries to the get the information out of the OD group they must follow a multi-step process.
Request: Please add, or give the user the option to add, the Origin and Destination Names as individual columns in the Lines
