Obtaining coordinates when computing distance of a polygon to a line

Question

I have a shapefile of a county. I am interested in computing its distance to a line, which I've been doing using Near. I want to know the coordinates on the line that produces the minimum distance. How do I obtain the coordinates?

I use ArcMap in ArcGIS 10.1

Answer 1

I suggest using the optional LOCATION argument to create and populate NEAR_X and NEAR_Y fields as described in the help for Near:

"Specifies whether x- and y-coordinates of the nearest location of the near feature will be written to new fields NEAR_X and NEAR_Y, respectively.

• NO_LOCATION —Specifies that the x- and y-coordinates of the nearest location will not be written. This is the default.
• LOCATION —Specifies that the x- and y-coordinates of the nearest location will be written to NEAR_X and NEAR_Y fields."