Calculating cost of travel

Use the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension to calculate the cost of traveling across a surface. Travel cost analysis involves generating a cost surface and calculating optimum corridors across the surface. Calculating travel cost can be informative for decision making.

The following map displays the least-cost travel for timber transport within a 200-mile radius of each mill. It considers travel obstacles and estimates the cost in dollars to transport wood from each location to the nearest mill. Once the accumulated least-cost path of travel has been calculated, it is easy to identify the shortest path from any location to the nearest mill.

Map of least-cost travel for timber within certain radius of each mill