Average Drive-Time Report (Business Analyst)
Summary
Calculates the average drive time within trade areas.
Usage
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It is recommended that the average drive-time report be run using customer-derived trade areas.
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Drive times are calculated for each trade area selected.
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It is recommended that the units selected for the average drive time be either minutes or miles.
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As a default, this tool uses the geographic center of the trade areas for the average drive-time calculation. You can alternately choose the actual store center point.
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If your trade area has extreme points in it, this may skew the results. This tool uses an average calculation to determine the average drive time, and extremes in this calculation may shift the average time to be higher or lower depending on the extremes.
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Once you have determined your average drive time, you can use this value to seek new markets by generating drive times around potential new store sites and evaluating the demographics in that area to see if they match the demographics of a successful store.
Syntax
| Parameter | Explanation | Data Type |
InputFeatureLayer |
The input feature class that defines the extent of the drive-time analysis. | Feature Layer |
StoreIDField |
Unique ID field in the trade area center (store) layer. | Field |
AreaDescriptionField |
Field used to describe or name each feature in the trade area layer. | Field |
MeasureUnits |
The units used with the distance values. By default, the units defined in the Business Analyst preferences will be selected.
| String |
OutputFolder |
The report is created in this output directory. | Folder |
UseSelectedFeatures (Optional) |
Uses selected features to calculate the average drive times.
| Boolean |
StoreLayer (Optional) |
The input feature class containing center points for the report. In most cases, this will be a Business Analyst store layer. The average drive-time report will use the points in this layer as the starting point for calculating the average drive time. | Feature Layer |
AssocStoreID (Optional) |
Unique ID field that defines the (store) layer. | Field |
ReportTitle (Optional) |
Names the report for use/access in the Business Analyst reports wizard. | String |
ReportFormats (Optional) |
Select the desired report output format
| String |
Code Sample
# Name: AverageDTReports.py
# Description: Calculates the average drive time of a customer derived trade area output from Business Analyst.
# Author: ESRI
# Import system modules
import arcview
import arcpy
arcpy.ImportToolbox("C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\ArcToolbox\Toolboxes\Business Analyst Tools.tbx")
try:
# Acquire extension license
arcpy.CheckOutExtension("Business")
# Define input and output parameters for the Average Drive Time Report tool
Input = "C:/My Output Data/Projects/Default Project/TradeAreas/Customer Derived Areas/TradeArea.shp"
Id = "STORE_ID"
AreaDesc = "AREA_DESC"
Output = "C:/My Output Data/Projects/Default Project/Reports"
Report = "Average Drive Time Report"
# Create Average Drive Time report
arcpy.AverageDTReports_ba(Input, Id, AreaDesc, "Minutes", Output "false", "#", "#", sReport)
# Release extension license
arcpy.CheckInExtension("Business")
except:
print arcpy.GetMessages(2)