Finding a site for a new school

1- Download Required Data from Here.

2- Open Arc Catalog, Right click on aToolBoxec->My Toolboxes and Create a new toolbox in your folder. Name the toolbox 'Site Analysis Tools'.

3- Right-click the Site Analysis Tools toolbox and click New > Model. An empty ModelBuilder session will open.

4- On the model's main menu, click Model > Model Properties.

5- Click the General tab.

6- Type 'FindSchool' in the Name text box and 'Find location for school' in the Label text box. The name is used in scripting and at the Python Window. The label is the display name for the model.

7- Check the Store relative path names (instead of absolute paths) check box. Checking this box sets all source paths referenced by the tool as relative to the location of the toolbox.

8- Click the Environments tab.

9- Expand Processing Extent and check Extent.

10- Expand Raster Analysis and check Cell Size.

11- Click Values.

12- Expand Processing Extent. Set the Extent by clicking the drop-down arrow and selecting Same as Layer elevation.

13- Expand Raster Analysis. Set the Cell Size by clicking the drop-down arrow and selecting Same as Layer elevation.

14- Click OK on the Environment Settings window.

15- Click OK on the Model Properties window.

16- On the toolbar, click the Save button

17- From your table of contents, drag the layers elevation, rec_sites, and schools onto your model.

18- Click and drag the Slope tool from the Spatial Analyst Surface toolset onto your model and place it in line with your elevation data. An element that references the Slope tool is created on the display window.

19- Locate the Euclidean Distance tool in the Spatial Analyst Tools toolbox Distance toolset. Click and drag the Euclidean Distance tool onto your model and place it in line with rec_sites.

20- Repeat the previous step, but this time place the Euclidean Distance tool in line with schools.

21- Click the Add Connection tool

22- Use the Add Connection tool to connect to the elevation dataset to the Slope tool. To do this, click elevation, then click the Slope tool.

23- Repeat the previous step, this time connecting rec_sites to the Euclidean Distance tool and schools to the Euclidean Distance (2) tool.

24- On the model toolbar, click the Select tool, because you no longer need the Add Connection tool.

25- Click the Auto Layout button , then click the Full View button  to apply the current diagram properties to the elements and place them within the display window.

26- Right-click the Slope tool and click Open, or double-click the Slope tool.

27- Leave the Input raster and the Output measurement as the default values.

28- Accept the default location for the value of the Output raster parameter, but type slope_out for the name.

29- A meaningful output name, slope_out, has been provided to help locate this data later in exercise 3.

30- For the Z factor, type 0.3048 to convert the z-values to the same unit of measure as the x,y units (from feet to meters).

31- Click OK.

32- Right-click the output variable from the Slope tool and click Rename.

33- Type Slope output and click OK.

34- Hover over the Euclidean Distance tool connected to rec_sites. You can easily see all the default parameters set for this tool. There is no need to adjust any of these parameters. You accepted the default for the Maximum distance, thus leaving this parameter empty. Therefore, the edge of the output raster is used as the maximum distance. The Output cell size is taken from the environment setting previously set to that of your elevation data. In this exercise, the Output direction raster is not required.

35- Rename the output variable from the Euclidean Distance tool to Distance to recreation sites.

36- Hover over the Euclidean Distance (2) tool connected to schools. You can easily see all the default parameters set for this tool. There is no need to adjust any of these parameters.

37- Rename the output variable from the Euclidean Distance (2) tool to Distance to schools.

38- Right-click each of the output variables (Slope output, Distance to recreation sites, and Distance to schools) and click Add To Display. With the Add To Display property on, the data referenced by the variable will be added to the display each time the model is run.

39- Click the Run button on the model toolbar to execute the three tools— Slope, Euclidean Distance, and Euclidean Distance (2) —in your model.

40- If the progress dialog box is present, check the Close this dialog when completed successfully check box , then click Close.

41- Examine the layers added to your ArcMap display.

42- Locate the Reclassify tool in the Spatial Analyst Tools toolbox Reclass toolset. Click and drag the Reclassify tool onto ModelBuilder in line with Slope Output. Add another Reclassify tool in line with Distance to recreation sites and another in line with Distance to schools.

43- Click the Add Connection tool. Use the connect tool to connect:

Slope Output to the Reclassify tool

Distance to recreation sites to the Reclassify (2) tool

Distance to schools to the Reclassify(3) tool

44- On the model toolbar, click the Select tool.

45- Open the Reclassify tool connected to the Slope Output variable.

46- Accept the default for the Reclass field parameter so the Value field will be used.

47- Click Classify.

48- Click the Method drop-down arrow and click Equal Interval.

49- Click the Classes drop-down arrow and click 10.

50- Click OK.

51- Click Reverse New Values.

52- Accept the default for the Output raster parameter.

53- Click OK.

54- Rename the output variable from the Reclassify tool to Reclassed slope.

55- Open the Reclassify tool connected to the Distance to recreation sites variable.

56- Accept the default for the Reclass field parameter so the Value field will be used.

57- Click Classify.

58- Set the Method to Equal Interval and the number of Classes to 10.

59- Click OK.

60- Click Reverse New Values. Clicking Reverse New Values makes it so that distances close to recreational facilities receive a higher new value, since these areas are more desirable.

61- Accept the default path and name for the Output raster parameter.

62- Click OK.

63- Rename the output variable from the Reclassify (2) tool to Reclassed distance to recreation sites.

64- Open Reclassify (3) tool.

65- Accept the default for the Reclass field parameter so the Value field will be used.

66- Click Classify.

67- Set the Method to Equal Interval and the number of Classes to 10.

68- Click OK.

69- Accept the default for the Output raster parameter.

70- Click OK.

71- Rename the output variable from the Reclassify (3) tool to Reclassed distance to schools.

72- Right-click each of the variable outputs— Reclassed slope, Reclassed distance to recreation sites and Reclassed distance to schools —and click Add To Display.

73- Click the Run button to execute the three Reclassify tools in your model.

74- On the toolbar, click the Save button

75- Examine the layers added to your ArcMap display.

76- Click and drag the Weighted Overlay tool, located in the Spatial Analyst toolbox Overlay toolset, into ModelBuilder.

77- Open the Weighted Overlay tool.

78- Type 1, 10, and 1 in the From, To, and By text boxes.

79- Click Apply.

80- Add the Reclassed slope to the Weighted Overlay tool.

Click the Add raster row button

For the input raster, select Reclassed slope from the drop-down list and leave the input field as Value.

Click OK.

81- Repeat the previous step for each of the reclassified datasets including Reclassed distance to recreation sites and Reclassed distance to schools.

82- For the Reclassed slope input, in the Scale Value column, click the cell with a value of 1.

83- Click the drop-down arrow, scroll, then click Restricted.

84- Set Scale Values of 2 and 3 to Restricted.

85- Add the landuse layer, this time setting the Input field to Landuse. Click OK.

86- Change the default Scale Values for the landuse layer to the following values:

Brush/transitional—5

Barren land—10

Built up—3

Agriculture—9

Forest—4

87- Set the Scale Values representing Water and Wetlands to Restricted.

88- Collapse each raster in the Weighted overlay table.

89- In the % Influence column, type the percentages for each of the input rasters:

Reclassed distance to schools to 25

Reclassed distance to recreation sites to 50

Reclassed slope to 13

landuse to 12

90- Accept the default for the Output raster parameter.

91- Click OK.

92- Rename the output variable from the Weighted Overlay tool to Suitable Areas and click OK.

93- Right-click the Suitable Areas variable and click Add To Display.

94- Run the Weighted Overlay tool.

95- On the toolbar, click the Save button

96- Examine the layer added to your ArcMap display. Locations with higher values indicate more suitable sites—areas that are on less steep slopes of suitable land-use types, closer to recreational facilities, and away from existing schools. Notice that the areas you marked as restricted have a value of zero.

97- Click and drag the Con tool, located in the Conditional toolset, into ModelBuilder.

98- Open the Con tool.

99- Click the Input Conditional Raster value drop-down arrow and click the Suitable Areas variable.

100- Type the condition Value = 9 for the value of the Expression parameter.

101- Click the Input true raster or constant value drop-down arrow and click the Suitable Areas variable. If the condition you enter is true, then the value of the cells of the Input true raster or constant value will be applied to the cells of the output raster.

102- Leave the value for the Input false raster or constant value parameter blank. Leaving the Input false raster or constant value parameter blank will apply the default. The default is that if any value in the Input conditional raster that doesn't meet the condition you enter will be assigned NoData in the output raster.

103- Accept the default for the Output raster parameter.

104- Click OK.

105- Rename the output variable from the Con tool to Optimal areas and click OK.

106- Right-click Optimal areas and click Add To Display.

107- Run the Con tool.

108- Click the Majority Filter tool, located in the Spatial Analyst Tools toolbox Generalization toolset, and add it to ModelBuilder.

109- Open the Majority Filter tool .

110- Click the Input raster drop-down arrow and click the Optimal areas raster variable.

111- Accept the default Output raster parameter.

112- Click the Number of neighbors to use drop-down arrow and click EIGHT. This option specifies the number of neighboring cells to use in the kernel of the filter. The kernel of the filter will be the eight nearest neighbors (a 3-by-3 cell window) to the present cell.

113- Accept the default to use the MAJORITY as the Replacement threshold. Using MAJORITY as the Replacement threshold means five out of eight connected cells must have the same value for the present cell to retain its value.

114- Click OK.

115- Rename the output variable from the Majority Filter tool to Filtered optimal areas.

116- Right-click the Filtered optimal areas and click Add To Display.

117- Run the Majority Filter tool.

118- Open the Raster To Polygon tool in the Conversion Tools toolbox, inside the From Raster toolset.

119- Click the Input raster drop-down arrow and click the Filtered optimal areas raster layer.

120- Leave the default for the Field parameter as VALUE.

121- Accept the default Output polygon features parameter path, but change the name to opt_area.

122- Leave the default checked to Simplify polygons. The polygons will be simplified to reduce the stair-step effect when a raster is converted to a polygon.

123- Click OK.

124- Leave the landuse, elevation, hillshd, destination, roads, rec_sites, schools, Slope Output, and opt_area layers in the table of contents. In the table of contents, right-click the layers to be removed, then click Remove. Press and hold the SHIFT key to select multiple layers. Your ArcMap table of contents display should resemble the graphic below.

125- Open the Select Layer By Location tool in the Data Management toolbox, Layers and Table Views toolset.

126- For the Input Feature Layer, select opt_area from the drop-down list.

127- For the Relationship parameter, accept the default, which is INTERSECT.

128- Click the Selecting Features drop-down arrow and click the Roads layer.

129- Accept the default for the Selection type parameter, which is NEW_SELECTION.

130- Click OK.

131- Open the Select Layer By Attribute tool in the Data Management toolbox, Layers and Table Views toolset.

132- For the Layer Name of Table View, select opt_area from the drop-down list.

133- For the Selection type parameter, choose SUBSET_SELECTION.

134- Click the query builder button.

135- Double-click Shape_Area in the list of fields to enter the field into the expression text box.

136- Click the greater than or equal to button

137- Type 40469.

138- Click OK, then click Close.

139- Open the Copy Features tool in the Data Management toolbox, Features toolset.

140- Click the Input Features drop-down arrow and click the opt_area layer.

141- Click the Browse button next to the Output Feature Class parameter and navigate to C:\Spatial Analyst\Stowe.gdb. This stores your final result in your Stowe.gdb instead of your Scratch.gdb.

142- Type final_site for the name of the output feature class and click Save.

143- Click OK to run the tool.

144- Right-click opt_area in the table of contents and click Remove.

145- On the Standard toolbar, click the Save button