Generate Desire Lines (Business Analyst)

Available with Business Analyst license.

Summary

Generates a series of lines from each customer to an associated store location. These lines are often called spider diagrams. The tool can also generate an optional Wind Rose report from the output.

Note:

This tool is similar to the Generate Origin-Destination Links tool in the Analysis toolbox Proximity toolset.

Illustration

Usage

• The store layer and customer layer must each be a point feature class.

• Generating desire lines with drive time and drive distance will take longer than using the straight-line (Euclidean) distance method.

• The output shows the spatial distribution between the Store Layer and the Customer Layer parameter values and calculates the distance values between each store and customer.

• Checking the optional Create Report parameter creates a Wind Rose report, which visualizes the distributions of customers around each store.

• The Interpret Wind Rose report is a PDF document you can use to understand the various sections and elements of the Wind Rose report.

Parameters

Dialog

Label	Explanation	Data Type
Store Layer	The input point layer representing store or facility locations.	Feature Layer
Customer Layer	The input point layer representing customers or patrons.	Feature Layer
Output Feature Class	The resultant feature class that will be added to the Contents pane.	Feature Class
Store ID Field	A unique ID field representing a store or facility location.	Field
Associated Store ID Field	An ID field used to assign individual customers to stores.	Field
Distance Type (Optional)	The method of travel that will be used for distance calculation. Straight Line is the default value. When using Portal for ArcGIS or local data sources, travel mode options are dynamically populated.	String
Measure Units (Optional)	The type of distance- or time-measuring units that will be used when calculating minimal distance.	String
Cutoff (Optional)	The distance beyond which customers will be considered outliers and excluded from consideration during desire line generation.	Double
Travel Direction (Optional)	Specifies the direction of travel that will be used between stores and demand points. Toward Stores—The direction of travel will be from demand points to stores. This is the default. Away from Stores—The direction of travel will be from stores to demand points.	String
Time of Day (Optional)	The time at which travel begins.	Date
Time Zone (Optional)	Specifies the time zone that will be used for the Time of Day parameter. UTC—Coordinated universal time (UTC) will be used. Choose this option if you want to choose the best location for a specific time, such as now, but aren't certain in which time zone the stores or demand points are located. Local time at locations—The time zone in which the stores or demand points are located will be used. If Travel Direction is Away from Stores, this is the time zone of the stores. If Travel Direction is Toward Stores, this is the time zone of the demand points. This is the default. UTC—Coordinated universal time (UTC) will be used. Choose this option if you want to choose the best location for a specific time, such as now, but aren't certain in which time zone the stores or demand points are located. Local time at locations—The time zone in which the stores or demand points are located will be used. If travel_direction is AWAY_FROM_STORES, this is the time zone of the stores. If travel_direction is TOWARD_STORES, this is the time zone of the demand points. This is the default.	String
Create Report (Optional)	Specifies whether a Wind Rose report will be created. Checked—A report will be created. Unchecked—A report will not be created. This is the default.	Boolean
Report Title (Optional)	The title of the Wind Rose report.	String
Output Report Folder (Optional)	The output directory that will contain the Wind Rose report.	Folder
Report Format (Optional)	One or more output report formats. The default value is PDF. Additional available formats are XLSX, HTML, CSV, and PAGX.	String

Derived Output

Label	Explanation	Data Type
Output Report	The output report file.	File

Python

arcpy.ba.DesireLines(in_stores_layer, in_customers_layer, out_feature_class, store_id_field, link_field, {distance_type}, {units}, {cutoff}, {travel_direction}, {time_of_day}, {time_zone}, {create_report}, {report_title}, {report_folder}, {report_format})

Name	Explanation	Data Type
in_stores_layer	The input point layer representing store or facility locations.	Feature Layer
in_customers_layer	The input point layer representing customers or patrons.	Feature Layer
out_feature_class	The resultant feature class that will be added to the Contents pane.	Feature Class
store_id_field	A unique ID field representing a store or facility location.	Field
link_field	An ID field used to assign individual customers to stores.	Field
distance_type (Optional)	The method of travel that will be used for distance calculation. Straight Line is the default value. When using Portal for ArcGIS or local data sources, travel mode options are dynamically populated.	String
units (Optional)	The type of distance- or time-measuring units that will be used when calculating minimal distance.	String
cutoff (Optional)	The distance beyond which customers will be considered outliers and excluded from consideration during desire line generation.	Double
travel_direction (Optional)	Specifies the direction of travel that will be used between stores and demand points. TOWARD_STORES—The direction of travel will be from demand points to stores. This is the default. AWAY_FROM_STORES—The direction of travel will be from stores to demand points.	String
time_of_day (Optional)	The time at which travel begins.	Date
time_zone (Optional)	Specifies the time zone that will be used for the time_of_day parameter. UTC—Coordinated universal time (UTC) will be used. Choose this option if you want to choose the best location for a specific time, such as now, but aren't certain in which time zone the stores or demand points are located. TIME_ZONE_AT_LOCATION—The time zone in which the stores or demand points are located will be used. If travel_direction is AWAY_FROM_STORES, this is the time zone of the stores. If travel_direction is TOWARD_STORES, this is the time zone of the demand points. This is the default.	String
create_report (Optional)	Specifies whether a Wind Rose report will be created. CREATE_REPORT—A report will be created. DO_NOT_CREATE_REPORT—A report will not be created. This is the default.	Boolean
report_title (Optional)	The title of the Wind Rose report.	String
report_folder (Optional)	The output directory that will contain the Wind Rose report.	Folder
report_format [report_format,...] (Optional)	One or more output report formats. The default value is PDF. Additional available formats are XLSX, HTML, CSV, and PAGX.	String

Derived Output

Name	Explanation	Data Type
output_report	The output report file.	File

Code sample

DesireLines example (stand-alone script)

The following Python window script demonstrates how to use the DesireLines function.

import arcpy
arcpy.env.baDataSource = "ONLINE;US;"
arcpy.ba.DesireLines("Hubs", "grocery stores", r"C:\Temp\Output.gdb\Hubs_DesireLines", "Loc_name", "Loc_name", "STRAIGHT_LINE_DISTANCE", "MILES", 15, "TOWARD_STORES", None, "TIME_ZONE_AT_LOCATION")

DesireLines with Wind Rose report example (stand-alone script)

The following Python window script demonstrates how to generate a Wind Rose report with the DesireLines function.

import arcpy
arcpy.env.baDataSource = "ONLINE;US;"
arcpy.ba.DesireLines("grocery stores", "grocery customers", r"C:\Temp\Output.gdb\grocery stores_DesireLines", "USER_STORE_ID", "USER_STORE_ID", "STRAIGHT_LINE_DISTANCE", "MILES", None, "TOWARD_STORES", None, "TIME_ZONE_AT_LOCATION", "CREATE_REPORT", '', r"C:\Temp\Output.gdb\DesireLines", "PDF")

Environments

Current Workspace, Data Source, Network Source

Licensing information

• Basic: Requires Business Analyst, ArcGIS Network Analyst extension
• Standard: Requires Business Analyst, ArcGIS Network Analyst extension
• Advanced: Requires Business Analyst, ArcGIS Network Analyst extension