Convert points to lines following the curves of an existing line (road) feature

[JoeD]

Hey:

So, I have received a shapefile which contains the start and end points for guardrails in an area. I need to convert the start and end points to a line that connects them - this alone is easy.

However, I do not want the line connecting the points to be straight, I want it to follow the curvature of the roads. Further, I want the offset the guardrails have from the road to be maintained in the output line feature class.

I presently have 3 feature classes to work with: 1) a roads line feature class; 2) a guardrail end point feature class; and, 3) a guardrail start point feature class.

Basically, if I have a start point a (x1, y1) and end point a (x3, y5) and a road segment starting at x1, y2 which turns  90 degrees at x2, y2 and ends at x2, y5, I would like to create a line to connect start point a and end point a that turns 90 degrees at x3, y1 rather than taking a direct line path.

I can't imagine there is a tool that comes with ArcGIS to do this, but, has anyone found a way to automate this procedure? What about if the offset from the road varies (e.g. the start point is 1 metre from the road and the end point is 1.5 metres from the road)?

[DanPatterson_Retired · Accepted solution]

too many specific requirements, scripting would be the best option, but the effort spent doing that would have to be weighed against the time spent doing it manually

[JoeD]

Thanks for the reply.

I thought it might need to be scripted. I was just hoping someone had made the script already and I was just wording it wrong in my Google search. It was a long shot, but, worth a try.

Suppose I know what I have to look forward to.

Cheers.