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I'm trying to build a network from several GPS-trakcs, to digitalize hiking routes on my land.

I have several GPX-files from routes I've tracked with the gps. I managed to display them in Arcmap 10.2 and also create lines between the points.

But my knowledge/skills kind of fall a bit short from here on.

so can somebody give me an easy step-by-step how to create a network from gps-tracks?

one of my problems so far is this:

several of the routes have some line segments overlapping, how do i make the overlapping segments in to one(preferably the averaged/middle one) and create a junction where they split? see picture "Q1"black red and green symbolizes three different track logs

My second challenge is this:

I want to add an attribute with information about average speed between my gps point, this is a simple operation but since there is a lot of gps points i need to be able to do it fairly automatic.

So far what I've tried is "points to line" to get a line, then i used "split line at vertices" to get separate line segments between each gps point. Then I tried to join tables, between the line segments and gps-points, so that the line segments would have time information on its start and end, then it would be easy to calculate the speed for every row. So i tried using "spatial join", the problem here is that it creates separate rows for the join of "line segement and its start point" and the "line segement and its end point"

see table: enter image description here

marked in yellow is one line segment and its join to two gps points(see Shape Length is the same and DateTime is different)

My goal is as mentioned to find the average speed the used on this line segment.

If my approach to the problem is totally off I'm open to try other methods!

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1 Answer 1

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In order to get started with Network Analyst extension (which you will need to use a network dataset) and build your own network dataset from these data, please consider going through this tutorial (the best one I recommend all who just start working networks). It is not updated to the current version of ArcGIS, but is by far the best practical guide for those who want to build their own network.

HowTo: Prepare data for use with the Network Analyst extension

After that, when you will have a good understanding of network connectivity, consider developing a sustainable workflow for raw data processing, so it can be used for network analysis. The GP tool that you might need to process the data first is Feature To Line (Data Management). Set the XY tolerance as appropriate to make your closely located GPS track lines considered by ArcGIS as coincident (or intersecting).

I also use very often Integrate GP tool for integrating line features that are located within a certain XY tolerance. You will need to find out the best tolerance value to make your lines looking good after processing. Also consider going through this Esri Help file for information on how to split lines at intersection. Keep in mind though that you would lose the overpass/underpass information in this case since all the intersecting lines will be splitted.

Should you end up with identical line features copied/created during the processing, consider using Find Identical GP tool.

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