The Aim of this blog:
The aim of this blog is to demonstrate the use of Alteryx spatial tools and the TomTom map dataset to identify schools near your house.
Where to Start ?
Firstly we need to identify what is our expected outcome and what tool we will need to use.
Then, we need to identify what dataset we will need to use.
Lastly, we move to build the workflow.
So what are the tool we will be using ?
Since we will be working with spatial data.
Hence the tools we will be using would be from the Spatial Tools Palette.
Firstly, We will be using the Map Input Tool to drop a pin at our home address.
Then we will use the Trade Area Tool to create our 20 minutes drive time range.
After the target area of 20 minutes drive time is created, we will use the spatial match tool to find the schools within the target area.
Lastly, we will use the Find Nearest Tool to find the top 3 bus stop that are close to our result schools.
Below is the screen shot of our result workflow.
As you can see, it’s quite simple.
Challenges ? If that’s you want to call them…
While the work flow looks simple, there are a few things that needs to be addressed.
When working with spatial, it’s easy to be confused by the name and value of the spatial object.
As you can see in the screen shot below.
The Field value of the Target input and the Universe input are all called SpatialObj.
If we don’t change the name of the Spatial Object field.
As we can see in the screenshot comparison above. It can be very confuse to use.
That’s why I believe it’s good practice to always rename them.
Conclusion:
There you have it.
A simple workflow to find school close to a home point on the map, while also finding the top 3 close bus stop near the school.
