Many to Many Connect Origins to Destinations

[LuisGilling]

Hello,

I'm fairly new to ArcGIS and am trying to use the Connect Origins to Destinations tool, but keep getting an error. I have two csv files with 20 records. Each file has three columns; name, address, and ID field. In one file (the origin), the ID field is unique. In the other file, the IDs are not unique as they are the destinations and correspond to one origin having multiple destinations. When I try to run the tool, I keep getting an error (attached) about the ID field in my Destinations file not being unique. I was under the impression if you are doing a many origins to many destinations that the non-unique ID was acceptable. Any help is appreciated!

[MelindaMorang]

The destination IDs need to be unique.  The field in Origins relating to the Destination ID field need not be unique because multiple origins can be assigned to the same destination.

The example under the "Using multiple origins and destinations" section in the tool documentation may be helpful in illustrating how it should work.

[LuisGilling]

Thank you for the response! I tried referring to the tool example of the schools in the documentation as well. Switching it around just gave me the opposite error and now it complains about the field in the Origins layer not being unique. The OriginLink field is just a field that could contain any number between 1 and 4

[MelindaMorang]

Hmm.

Okay, here's how I set up a test problem.

I have a layer with two stores, and they have a unique ID field called STORE_ID:

I have a layer with customers that has a non-unique field called STORE_ID that assigns each customer to a store.

Then I set up and run the tool:

It runs successfully and calculates a route between each customer and their assigned store.  (The example is made somewhat confusing by the fact that the ID fields have the same name, but they don't have to.)

So, the ID field in origins need not be unique, but the ID field in destinations does.

If you're still having trouble...I'm not too sure how to help you.  Might be best if you contact Esri Support, and they can look at your specific data and figure out what you're missing.