How to find a route between two points if the two are not along the network?

Question

I have browsed through a lot of posts and I haven't seen any to address this issue.

My research plans to solve the distance from a point to another point using the selected highway network (selecting out other roads system). But I have points that are not on the highway system. I am wondering if there is any tool that can pinpoint reachable driveways that capture all points of interest (thousands) within a certain distance and calculate the distance between each two driveways?

Alternatively, let's say if I put all drivable roads on a map. How do I order ArcGis to calculate routes of points to the nearest highway node and routing to the destination merely choosing the highway instead of other roads?

Answer 1

I think ArcGIS Network Analyst contains the tools that you are looking for. More specifically Make OD Cost Matrix Analysis Layer is what you are looking for considering you would like to calculate distances between thousands of origin destination pairs. Moreover, you can refine how your locations (origins, destinations) will interact with your network. I find this link about snapping capabilities of Network Analyst very useful. If your question was related to the some core nodes servicing an area and needed a visual output, I would suggest Service Area function, though.