Latest Contributions by MelindaMorang

Hi Liam. When setting up your network dataset, you will need to set up some cost (impedance) attributes that determine how the network calculates the cost of each edge in the network when solving routes or other analyses. See http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#/Understanding_network_attributes/00470000000m000000/. These cost attributes are calculated using evaluators.  You have many options (including code) for constructing an evaluator. See http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00470000000n000000 for more information. For each attribute in your network, you can give it a different evaluator for the from-to direction and the to-from direction.  In other words, the cost of the same network element can be different if it's being traversed in different directions.  You will need to know the direction of digitization of your road to make sure you know which direction is which, but it should be easy enough for you to give each road a different cost if it's going uphill or downhill. ... View more

Hi Liam.  You've got yourself a challenging problem! Since you have elevation data, you can use the Interpolate Shape tool (http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00q90000006m000000) to add z-elevation to the roads feature class in your network.  You could then calculate an average or maximum slope for each line feature and use this, as well as the 3D length, to calculate a new new cost attribute in your network dataset.  I'm not sure what advice to give you about how to construct your cost attribute.  Consider that each road segment may have some uphill and some downhill parts, some steep parts and some not-so-steep parts.  The average slope of the road feature might be zero even if it contains both a steep uphill part and a steep downhill part. Additionally, please note that you will likely encounter problems anywhere in your road network where you have bridges or tunnels, since your elevation data probably only accounts for the elevation at ground level.  If your data already had Z-levels for handling bridges and tunnels, you might be able to find a way to fudge the connectivity to make these work.  You might have to manually fix each one. ... View more

This sounds like a python question, so I have moved it to the python forum.  I hope you find your answer! ... View more

Hi Elizabeth.  Unfortunately, there is currently no way for the polygons to automatically keep a field from Facilities.  You have to first create the polygons and then do a join with Facilities using the Facility ID column in polygons and the Object ID column in Facilities. ... View more

Hi David. Load Locations (the wizard tool) and Add Locations (the geoprocessing tool available through ArcToolbox) technically do the same thing.  You can use either within ArcMap.  Load Locations is accessed by right-clicking input classes in the Network Analyst Window or by dragging and dropping layers into the Network Analyst window.  Add Locations is accessed from ArcToolbox.  If you are seeking to automate a workflow through model builder or python, you will need to use Add Locations. You might notice some things (for instance the "Exclude Restricted Portions of the Network" button) in Add Locations that don't appear in the Load Locations dialog.  Some options apply to the Network Analyst layer as a whole and can be set in the layer properties instead of in the Load Locations dialog. Please let me know if you have any further specific questions about how to do something in either Add Locations or Load Locations. ... View more

Hi James.  So sorry for your difficulties.  Can you attach a screenshot showing your issue?  It's very difficult to diagnose your problem without actually seeing it. ... View more

Hi Eric.  We are aware of the issue with NACampus Directions you mentioned where each step generates walking directions and then summarizes them with "Drive X mi."  We're working to get it fixed, but I'm not sure of the current status of this issue.  For now, please accept our apologies for this problem, and good luck with your project. ... View more

What you want is the OD Cost Matrix solver.  It does exactly what you describe. You can read about OD Cost Matrix analysis here: http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00470000004r000000 If you're new to Network Analyst, you might benefit from some of the tutorials here: http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00470000005r000000 ... View more

The Network Analyst tools require points as input.  To find the network distance from a lake or river, you would want to use the OD cost matrix solver, but you can't load a polygon or line feature class for Origins or Destinations.  They have to be points.  You can convert your polygons or lines to point features by finding the centroids of those features, by using the features' nodes, by finding the intersecting points of your streets features (if they intersect at all), or by manually digitizing river/lake access points along the roads. ... View more

Hmm, that's odd. Are you running the Copy Traversed Source Features tool from ArcToolbox, or are you using it within a script tool (ie, calling it from Python)?  If it's in Python, you're probably referencing the wrong layer or referencing it incorrectly.  Can you include a screenshot or some code or something? ~Melinda ... View more

Hi Obi.  You might be able to get some of the information you want using the Copy Traversed Source Features tool (http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//004800000023000000).  This tool can tell you which road segments were used after you solve a route.  You can play with the resulting tables to calculate the number of time each segment was traversed on your routes, and thereby calculate the most-used streets. Depending on your application, Location-allocation might be a good tool for you. You'll need a layer of demand points, points showing where potential customers live or are located.  It doesn't really let you use "busy streets" exactly, although you could create a demand point at an intersection and use a traffic count to weight it or something. Let us know if you need further help. ... View more

There's a much easier way to do it than that. When you Load Locations, you can specify a different break value for each service area using field mapping.  You need a column in your input data that has the break values you want (so, 10 for Facility A, 12 for Facility B, etc.).  In the field mapping table in the Load Locations dialog box, there will be an entry on the left that says "Breaks_[Impedance Attribute]", where the [ImpedanceAttribute] part is filled in with whatever impedance attributes are available in your network dataset.  Click in the space next to the one you want ("Breaks_Miles" or some such), and you'll get a drop-down of the fields in your input data.  Select the field in your data that has the break values (10 for Facility A, 12 for Facility B, etc.).  When the Facilities sublayer is created, you'll notice that the Breaks_Miles column is now filled in with the values from the field in your input data.  When you solve the service area calculation on that impedance attribute, the values in this column will override the default cutoff you give it in the settings. Good luck! ... View more

It sounds like you'll have to modify your Excel table.  You will need a single row for /each/ address point in order to geocode them.  It could look something like this: Point1 Address1 RouteA Point2 Address2 RouteA Point3 Address3 RouteB Point4 Address4 RouteB Point5 Address5 RouteC Point6 Address6 RouteC ... View more