Proximity analysis roadmap

Summary
This topic provides a brief introduction to proximity analysis and looks at how it should be performed by ArcObjects developers.

About proximity analysis

One of the most basic questions asked of a geographic information system (GIS) is "What's near what?" The following are examples of this question:
  • How close is this well to a landfill?
  • Do any roads pass within 1,000 meters of a stream?
  • What is the distance between two locations?
  • What is the nearest or farthest feature from something?
  • What is the distance between each feature in a layer and the features in another layer?
  • What is the shortest street network route from one location to another?
  • What is the shortest cost weighted path between two locations?
In ArcGIS, these types of questions are answered with the use of geoprocessing tools, and, in some cases, the Network Analyst extension. The Network Analyst extension contains a set of ArcObjects to perform network-based proximity analysis.

Proximity analysis using geoprocessing

The functionality for performing proximity analysis as previously described is available through the geoprocessing tools in the following toolsets:
  • Proximity toolset in the Analysis toolbox—Contains tools that are used to determine the proximity of features within one or more feature classes or between two feature classes. These tools can identify features that are closest to one another or calculate the distances between or around them.
  • Analysis toolset in the Network Analyst toolbox—Contains tools that are used to calculate distance and proximity on a line network, such as a street or pipe network.
  • Distance toolset in the Spatial Analyst toolbox—Contains tools that are used to construct continuous raster maps of distance from features and to calculate cost weighted distances and paths across a landscape.
For more information on how to use these tools in a developer scenario, see How to run a geoprocessing tool.

Proximity analysis using ArcObjects

There are no ArcObjects, other than those available in the Network Analyst extension, to assist you in proximity analysis. You need to use geoprocessing tools, as discussed in the previous section, to perform this type of analysis.
If you are performing network-based proximity analysis, refer to the See Also links in the Network analysis topic.


See Also:

Proximity analysis
Using geoprocessing
Executing tools