Network Analysis

Goals and Objectives

Network Analysis is a very useful tool that shoots to help transportation challenges.  With this tool, one can perform a point to point routing, calculate driving times, show traffic maps, etc.  With this lab, we wanted to calculate a route for sand mining trucks to take the frac sand from the mine to a railroad, seeing as the railroad is the most efficient way to transport the sand to desired areas.  To do this, it was essential to find the closest railroad stop to each sand mine.  For these large trucks to transport this sand, it costs a lot of money, not only in gas prices, but also in wear and tear on the roads.  This is another important reason to find the shortest driving distance necessary to transport the sand.  Another goal is to keep track of the work flow using a data flow model throughout the lab.

Methods

In ArcGIS, ModelBuilder was utilized to run the closest facility tool for this network analysis.

Data flow model for running network analysis with the closest facilities tool.

First the streets were made the input on a "Make Closest Facility" tool with the "travel to" option.  This is because we want to travel by roads to the closest railroad terminal.  The next tool was "Add Location"  which is where we added the sand mines that were not close to railroad terminals.  Using the "Solve" tool at this point gives the railroad terminal that is closest to each sand mine that is not already on a railroad terminal.  The "Select Data" tool that comes next allows you to input that closest facilities layer and then calculate a route for how to get from each sand mine to a railroad terminal.  The "Copy Feature" allows you to make this route its own feature class.  From there you can view specific information about each route that a truck would take from each sand mine to the nearest railroad terminal.

This is part of the table that is created when making the route output as its own feature class.

Efficiency is everything with a business like this, and costs are very important.  The roads that these large trucks need to travel on to get to the railroad terminals start to wear down after awhile.  A cost of 2.2 cents per miles accounts for this wear.  Other costs to think about are gas prices.  According to http://www.gasbuddy.com/Gas_Prices/Wisconsin/index.aspx, the highest gas price in this general area is around $3.15 per gallon.  The website http://www.ehow.com/facts_5844120_fuel-mileage-information-semi-trucks.html says that the new designs of semi trucks get about 7 miles per gallon.

Results 

Map showing the fastest route from sand mines to a railroad terminal.

The total distance traveled by a single sand truck from each sand mine to the nearest railroad terminal was found to be 778.883 km.  The total amount spent in gas was $27,639.40 and the total amount accounted for the wear and tear on the road was calculated to be $1,064.75.  Adding these values together gives a grand total of $28,704.15 spent on getting one truck load of sand from each mine to its nearest railroad terminal.

Spreadsheet of costs for hauling the mined sand from the sand mines to the closest railroad terminal.

Conclusions

Network analysis can be a very important tool for any company that needs to deliver a product to its customers.  With just a few quick tools, I have shown the most efficient way for the sand mines in western Wisconsin to get their product from the mine to the closest railroad terminal, where it can then be transferred more directly and efficiently to the customer.  Not only can time be saved, but money too, as demonstrated in the last step of this lab.

Resources

http://www.gasbuddy.com/Gas_Prices/Wisconsin/index.aspx

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5844120_fuel-mileage-information-semi-trucks.html