Using ArcGIS and the network analyst toolkit, I want to determine the path of an optimized walking school bus route to school. a walking school bus is essentially a system by which adult volunteers chaperone elementary school children along a pre-set pedestrian path, to help keep them safe from traffic hazards and busy intersections. the idea would be that students would, starting from home, travel to their nearest walking bus "stop", then take the walking bus all the way to school.

I have a very detailed pedestrian network for my study area. scaled cost barriers include intersection controls, areas with high crime. the walking bus would bypass most of these barriers

Is there a workflow that could help determine the optimum location for the walking bus route itself? Right now my process is as follows:

Using closest facility analysis I determine the shortest path to the school for each house, then look at the density of routes along each segment of the network using a spatial join and the join count to find common "corridors". I would then digitize a route visually along this.

This is obviously fairly imprecise, and relies heavily on human judgement. Is there a better way to go about this?

Using ArcGIS Desktop and the Network Analyst extension, I want to determine the path of an optimized walking school bus route to school. a walking school bus is essentially a system by which adult volunteers chaperone elementary school children along a pre-set pedestrian path, to help keep them safe from traffic hazards and busy intersections. the idea would be that students would, starting from home, travel to their nearest walking bus "stop", then take the walking bus all the way to school.

I have a very detailed pedestrian network for my study area. scaled cost barriers include intersection controls, areas with high crime. the walking bus would bypass most of these barriers

Is there a workflow that could help determine the optimum location for the walking bus route itself? Right now my process is as follows:

Using closest facility analysis I determine the shortest path to the school for each house, then look at the density of routes along each segment of the network using a spatial join and the join count to find common "corridors". I would then digitize a route visually along this.

This is obviously fairly imprecise, and relies heavily on human judgement. 

Is there a better way to go about this?

Using ArcGIS and the network analyst toolkit, I want to determine the path of an optimized walking school bus route to school. a walking school bus is essentially a system by which adult volunteers chaperone elementary school children along a pre-set pedestrian path, to help keep them safe from traffic hazards and busy intersections. the idea would be that students would, starting from home, travel to their nearest walking bus "stop", then take the walking bus all the way to school.

I have a very detailed pedestrian network for my study area. scaled cost barriers include intersection controls, areas with high crime. the walking bus would bypass most of these barriers

is there a workflow that could help determine the optimum location for the walking bus route itself? right now my process is as follows:

using closest facility analysis I determine the shortest path to the school for each house, then look at the density of routes along each segment of the network using a spatial join and the join count to find common "corridors". I would then digitize a route visually along this.

This is obviously fairly imprecise, and relies heavily on human judgement. Is there a better way to go about this?

Using ArcGIS and the network analyst toolkit, I want to determine the path of an optimized walking school bus route to school. a walking school bus is essentially a system by which adult volunteers chaperone elementary school children along a pre-set pedestrian path, to help keep them safe from traffic hazards and busy intersections. the idea would be that students would, starting from home, travel to their nearest walking bus "stop", then take the walking bus all the way to school.

I have a very detailed pedestrian network for my study area. scaled cost barriers include intersection controls, areas with high crime. the walking bus would bypass most of these barriers

Is there a workflow that could help determine the optimum location for the walking bus route itself? Right now my process is as follows:

Using closest facility analysis I determine the shortest path to the school for each house, then look at the density of routes along each segment of the network using a spatial join and the join count to find common "corridors". I would then digitize a route visually along this.

This is obviously fairly imprecise, and relies heavily on human judgement. Is there a better way to go about this?