How to download/create a Network Dataset for vehicle routing problem

[NaienHe]

Hi, I'm trying to solve the vehicle routing problem in ArcGIS Pro 2.4.0 and I have the network analyst license.

I understand that there are two tools I can use, one is in the ready-to-use tools, which charges every time you solve. And there is another one in network analyst tools, which requires a network dataset. This is the one that I'm trying to use.

My question is, is there a guide on how to download/create such network dataset? I don't need something as detailed as live traffic, anything that is a reasonable approximation of traffic flow is enough for me.

Thanks,

Naien

[JaySandhu]

There are really no good sources of free street networks available. If you have a region in mind, you could try to find if the local city agency has some data. Or you can go to places like TIGER (US Census Bureau) or openstreetmap.org to download data. You will then have to create the network dataset. You can search for tools to convert the openstreetmap data into a network dataset that can be used with ArcGIS. Some info here;

https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-editor-for-openstreetmap

I will suggest that you create a free trial account with ArcGIS online and try out  the Vehicle Routing Problem solver and see if it works for your needs. It might be cheaper to use the high quality data online by using credits then finding/maintaining free street data.

Jay Sandhu