Can Line Data be an Input into Network Analyst Service Areas?

Question

I am establishing an absent sidewalk prioritization for bond dollar expenditures. Each missing sidewalk segment will be scored according to various criteria including proximity to businesses, parks, jobs, etc.

I could perform a simple Euclidean buffer, but I believe the analysis would be more sophisticated using a network analysis. In other words, to find a way to score the sidewalks according to the destinations captured within x-distance walk-shed along the street network.

In what I have seen done, and in all of the research and tutorials I've found, network analysis is done using point data as the input rather than lines. So, for a service area, a business (point) is used as the input and analyzed according to the network (streets).

Because absent sidewalks are line segments - not points - I am not sure if what I would like to do is even possible.

Answer 1

The answer here, that you cannot use a line to feed into the service area analysis seems correct. However, you can use a series of points in a "line" as input to the analysis. The result will be a bunch of polygons that you could dissolve into what should simulate using a line as input.

I'm trying it right now, and yes, this seems to work just fine.