calculate distance between ports and districts

[KuntalSingh]

hi everyone
my problem is this:
i have a point shapefile of Indian districts. i need to calculate the distance between each district and an international port. I have the XY coordinates of the port. what projection should i used and how do i calculate the distance between the two ports.

[JoshuaDamron]

Greetings,
  It sounds like you have the basic data you need.  You didn't specify if you are looking for road traveling distances or distances as the crow flies but either way the tool you will want to use to find distances is the Network Analyst.  This is an extension that you may or may not have depending on your licensing agreement with ESRI.  You can learn about it here: http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/What_is_Network_Analyst/00470000000100...  The best place to post any questions you may have about Network Analyst is in the Network Analyst Forums: http://forums.arcgis.com/forums/102-Network-Analyst

With regards to your x/y data, I suggest reading about "Adding x,y coordinate data as a layer" here: http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00s50000001z000000.htm  Basicly you will have a table (i.e. Excell spreadsheet) with a column for X and a column for Y, use the add data tool to bring it into your map, then go File > Add Data > Add XY Data.   it is important to know what projection the original lat/long coordinates are in to ensure that the points display accurately.

As to which projection to use, I am not familiar enough with mapping the Indian subcontinent to make a suggestion, you may try placing a post in the General Forum as that forum gets a lot of traffic and maybe someone who is more familiar will stumble onto your question (http://forums.arcgis.com/forums/5-ArcGIS-Desktop-General)

Hope this helps!