Hello Hydro People,
I had posted the beginnings of this question on the Network Analysis forum but now that I have a better idea about what I need to do, I thought I would reach out to the Hydro community for help. I am using state level NHDS data and my own event points, facilities and testing sites.
My goal is to create a data table with each of my facilities (currently located in a shape file), the closest downstream testing site (sites located in a separate shape file), and the distance between them. Yes, I could manually trace each one using the Utility Network Analyst, but I have over a hundred facilities and over a thousand testing sites.
Therefore, I would like to be able to use the Network Analyst => Analysis => Make Closest Facility Layer and treat my rivers/streams like roads, the flow direction like one way streets, my facilities like accidents, and my testing sites like the nearest hospitals. Understand?
The problem is that the NHDS network is not a Network Dataset that can be used with Network Analyst but a Geometric Network. Does anyone have any idea how I can build a Network Dataset from the Geometric Network?
A quick response or ANY clues would be really helpful. Don't be afraid to post.