How to Spatial Join centroids of parcels to point data and get the distance

Question

I'm currently using ArcMap 10.1 (basic license). I have a LSOA shape file of Camden borough. From there I added 2 extra fields within the attribute table, X and Y. I then calculated the 2 extra fields to give me the centroid of each output area. I also have a point data shape file of the underground stations within Camden borough. three things I need to work out:

1. Get the distance for every LSOA to the closest underground stations in order to create a choropleth map
2. I need to create a polygon vector file containing the catchment areas of every underground station in Camden. If there are 19 stations then I assuming that there are 19 catchments areas
3. Get the centroid of the catchment areas and then get the distance to the closest underground stations and create a choropleth map

I hope that makes sense

Answer 1

For getting feature to feature distance you may use the ET GeoWizard (within ArcMap) Point Distance or Closest Feature Distances tools.

Answer 2

Thats all very basic GIS functionality (if I understood your requirements right), unfortunately ArcGIS Basic is especially for point 2. very restricted to do those:

1. Assuming you want the distance from the LSOA centroid point to the nearest underground station point, you just have to right click the LSOA centroid layer > Join and Relates > Join

   • Select "Join data from another layer based on spatial location"
   • Select the underground station layer
   • Select "Each point will be given all the attributes ... in the layer ... that is closest to it, and a distance field showing how close that point is" (the second radio button)
   • Select a destination FeatureClass
   • (Alternatively you can use the GP Tool for spatial joining, which is the same functionality)

2. I think the simplest method (don't know if it is accurate enough for you) is to calculate Thiessen polygons from the station points. Unfortunately you need ArcGIS Desktop Advanced for this. Optionally you can use QGIS to create a voronoi map/thiessen polygons

3. The same procedure as you did with the LSOA polygons, I guess