Steps for the ArcGIS ArcView License

Here are the steps for #1 (for ArcGIS w/ArcView License):

1. Download Hawth’s Tools from:

http://www.spatialecology.com/htools/download.php

2. Unzip the file

3. Double click on htools_setup.exe to install the tool

4. Open Arcmap

5. Go to View – Toolbars and turn on Hawth’s Tools. You can drag the toolbar anywhere you want.

6. Add your point layer (in this example it is idaho_cities.shp but it could be any point layer) to the map.

7. First you want to query out the Capital:

Selection – Select by Attributes

In this example we’ll use Boise:

Click OK and Close.

Next you will save Boise as a Shapefile:

Right click on the layer (in the Table of Contents) – Data – Export Data:

Name the Shapefile Boise.shp (Instead of Export_Output.shp) & Click OK:

Click “Yes” to add the Boise Shapefile to your map:

 

Go to Hawth’s Tools – Analysis Tools – Distances Between Points (Between Layer)

 

Set up the Input & Output files:

Click on the folder icon and give the output file a meaningful (but not too long) name: 

 

Click Ok to run the Tool.

 

Next navigate to the folder where you saved the output above. Open the file in Excel and you will see a report of the distance between Boise & each city:

 

Optional: You could join this table to the Idaho Cities Shapefile in ArcMap and symbolize on distance from Boise:

 

1. Save file as .dbf:

 

Click “Yes” when prompted:

Right-click on the Idaho Cities layer (in the Table of Contents) – Joins and Relates – Join…

Set up your Join:

When prompted to create an Index, Click “Yes”:

Double-Click on Idaho Cities (or Right-Click – Properties) and Click on Symbology Tab:

 

 

 

You can adjust the ranges if you would like – Just type in the Range & the field will become editable:

 

 

 

Your map will look something like this:

Note: Be careful with Joining data with duplicate names. ArcMap will join the first record it finds when doing a one to many join.

In this case there are 2 cities named “Eagle” and 2 named “Pinehurst”. To fix these records you would need to do some manual editing to give these records unique names (Eagle_1 and Eagle_2 for example) and rerun the process.