I am working on modeling a project that requires me to create a network dataset in ArcCatalog. To do this, you simply right click on the roads shapefile and choose, "Create Network Dataset". You then just follow the wizard. I was wondering how that can be modeled in ModelBuilder.
There is a "Build Network Dataset" tool, but that doesn't seem to be what I'm looking for.
It is currently impossible to create a network dataset (nd) with ModelBuilder or with Python (using arcpy). You can build an existing nd, but you cannot create a brand new one from scratch.
Your option is to use ArcObjects. This would require heavy programming. There is a Street Data Processing toolbox that is built on .NET by Esri (the source code is provided), which you might modify to meet your business workflows. A GP tool which is part of the toolbox creates a nd with certain user-defined parameters, so this should work fine for you too.
If you have vendor data such as TomTom or HERE, the SDP toolbox will create a nd for you. There are 10.0, 10.1, 10.2 and 10.3.1 versions available.
ModelBuilder does not enable you to build wizards.
Consequently, you will need to look at each step in the wizard, and think about how you can bring the information that it gathers into upfront parameters on a model tool dialog instead.
