This week's lab consisted of three parts. The first two focused on Geocoding and using the Network Analyst while the 3rd portion utilized ESRI training to implement the use of model building for multiple processes. I really enjoyed this lab, although I seem to enjoy them all. Can I get paid to do labs? The Geocoding portion walked us through the five essential steps for good geocoding: download the Tiger Lines and if not already projected or in a projection different than what you are using, project them; Import the .shp into your map along with the table which needs addressing and any other base map information you might want; create an address locator (or use one you've already saved or provided by ESRI depending on your need); Perform the Geocode; REVIEW AND REMATCH so that you get the optimal matched rate. We were able to explore the "candidate" option and the "pick from map" option. The candidate options may not be the best for your location, and if you want to be sure, verify via an outside mapping source such as Bing Maps or other published information. While the process may be a bit painstaking it is quite important to be sure you have the correct geocoded locations. We took our geocoding results and imported them into a new map along with our Tiger Line information and our county boundary. We were then able to add our Network Analyst extension and tool bar to create a route analysis. There are many options within the Network Analyst which affect how your route will be analyzed. We chose to use street addresses with our MyAddressLocator style, edit location names when adding a new location and loading locations using location fields. For the Location Snap Options we chose to snap locations when adding a new location and moving a location. Once our options were set we were ready to add some stops to our route. I randomly selected three stations and created the route. Once I saw it, I realized my order caused me to double-back; ArcDesktop makes this easy to change and I adjusted my stops to eliminate the issue. The Network Analyst tool allows for various parameters to be applied to your route analysis. We set our impedance to minutes and I chose Monday at 8am as my time of day and day of week. We allowed U-Turns but enabled Oneway, Turnrestrictions and UnbuiltRoadsRestrictions. We made sure to put miles as the distance unit and time attributes as minutes and away we went. Once we solved the route, we were able to generate turn by turn directions and export the data. Like I said earlier, this was really cool and fun.
The last par of our lab focused on Model Building to visualize, automate and share geoprocessing workflows. Although we did not delve too deeply, we were exposed to the basic elements of model building. I can see how building models for specific processes which you might need to repeat would be extremely helpful. It is very easy to create a basic task skeleton and then add or alter the parameters. I might get crazy with this, who knows. The color coded shapes of the various elements make it easy to distinguish input data, output data, tools having run and tools not ready to run. You can verify your model and quickly locate where your error lies. Often, if you find and correct an error early in the process chain, the remainder of your model will run flawlessly. I was really psyched with this tool and called my partner into the office to show her; she saw the functionality in the tool, but was not nearly as excited as I was and returned to training the puppy. At any rate, I look forward to learning more about this tool and creating more complex models. Here's the one we created for illustrating gas mains near schools which needed to be closely monitored for leaks:
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