ArcGIS Online now includes collection of tasks, including geocoding, and a routing service that supports point-to-point and optimized routing for North America and Europe. It is available as a standard, no-cost service with a limit of 5,000 routes per year and as a fee-based service for each additional block of 5,000 routes, which can be used for commercial purposes. The network analyst extension is not required.

To begin, start ArcMap 9.3.1, turn on the StreetMap toolbar, and select “Find Route using online route services” . Select the desired routing service for North America or Europe. The North America routing service, based on Tele Atlas 2008 data, enables the generation of routes and driving directions for the USA and Canada. Up to 25 route barriers may be included per request.

On the Find Route box, under the Stops tab, enter the stops along your proposed route. Up to 10 stops can be added from graphics or features. For the example above, I set up a lesson where students are the “new owners” of a double-decker, open-top Manhattan tour bus. They have to route the bus from St John the Divine Church, to Radio City, the New York Public Library, the Empire State Building, the House of Oldies in Greenwich Village, the Woolworth Building, the American Geographical Society on Wall Street, and return.

The 7 stops came from a comma-separated-value (.csv) file that I had geocoded using the ArcGIS Online geocoding service and saved as a shapefile. On the Options tab, add a graphic, add a callout, and save the route and the stops as shapefiles. Students compare the quickest (in yellow) and the shortest route (in blue) in terms of the map and the total distance traveled. Only the quickest route has the bus traveling through the Upper East Side of Manhattan. How does adding one stop, changing the order of stops, or adjusting the influence of local roads versus highways affect the final route?

Give the ArcGIS Online routing service a try in your classroom!

--Joseph Kerski, Education Manager, ESRI.