Calculating a service area

In Esri, a service area is the set of points that can be reached from a starting point, according to a configurable set of rules. For example, a service area might define where a pedestrian can reach in five minutes from their current location, or where water can reach in a network of pipes.

Before you begin

The Calculate Service Area tool requires an Esri network analysis layer to be available, upon which the service area is calculated. The network analysis layers that are available depend on the connected ArcGIS servers.

Procedure

To calculate a service area:
  1. In the Map window, select a mapped item or a point.
  2. From the toolbox, select Calculate Service Area.
    The names and descriptions of the available network analysis layers are displayed for each connected server.
  3. Select a network, and then enter one or more break values.

    Each break value changes one of the parameters for the service area. For example, you might be interested in the locations that can be reached in 5, 10, or 15 minutes of driving. In that example, those numbers are the break values.

  4. Click Go to run the tool.

    Analyst's Notebook Connector for Esri adds the result of calculating the service areas to the Results tab in the Map window.

  5. In the Results tab, click the green View Query Results icon for the Calculate Service Area result.

    Analyst's Notebook Connector for Esri adds a Query Results layer to the Layers tab, and displays the service area on the map.