I am curious as to how you would determine the strengths and weaknesses of a network dataset.

I can compare the results of different network datasets, but how do you go about determining any potential limitations to a network dataset?

closed as too broad by PolyGeo Nov 2 '15 at 22:13


  • What sort of real-world phenomena are the network intended to represent? – Kirk Kuykendall Nov 2 '15 at 21:59

This is a pretty broad topic and there are quite a few answers but off the top of my head a few of the things that could be done are:

Topology - Run topology tools on the network dataset to ensure your topological rules are enfored and to locate any connectivity errors. How are you modeling highway interchanges for example, how are you modeling turns, etc...

Cost/Path - Build an accurate cost/path matrix, the more accurate this matrix the better your routing will be.

Other Models - Run your model and compare results with other models and/or routing solutions.

Real World Test - Run your network model and compare your results to real world results.

Here are some links to some papers that have put a decent amount of thought into their Network Datasets:

http://www.nwmissouri.edu/library/theses/2014/WinnMichael.pdf (Chapter 3 specifically)

https://www.itc.nl/library/papers_2009/msc/upm/xiaotang.pdf (Chapter 2)


