Network Analysis is right now one of the most used processes not only for commercial purposes but for answering daily basis questions. Million dollars companies like Waze, Uber, and Tesla, have used/resolved the graph theory to optimize routes and provide transportation services. Moreover, small companies and government agencies are using the "Vertices" and "Edges" analyses to better respond to customers' citizens' and citizens' necessities.

Google Maps is the best example of how Network Analysis has been carried out successfully. That application is currently being used by more than 5 million users each week, providing mobility answers for simple questions like: How can I go to the airport by walking? what is the best route to pick up my children from school? or where is the best museum in the city?

Those examples show how points and lines analysis have become fundamental for our daily basis routine.

As an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship holder, one of my biggest motivations to be here is to get involved in the European culture, travel, and exchange experiences, and believe it or not, Network Analysis has been fundamental for traveling in and out of Austria.

As result, before traveling to Vienna (Hypothetically), I will perform Network Analyses to determine what are the best routes and how mobility can be optimized to visit as many points of interest as possible. In that way, I'll take advantage of the time I'll be there.

For that purpose, I created in ArcGIS Pro, three layers that will be used for carrying out different analyses (Map I).

1.  Hotel  (Point Layer): Provides the Geographical location for the "Geblergasse" Hotel and its user's score.
2.  Train Station  (Point Layer): Provides the Geographical location for the "Viena Europaplatz 2" train station.
3.  Points of Interest  (Point Layer): Provides the Geographical location for 23 points of interest, including Libraries, Markets, Government infrastructures, Museums, Churches, Parks, Streets, Palaces, and others. Additionally, in the attribute table, there is information regarding the type of point (using subtypes), the user's score, and the number of reviews.

Click on each feature for checking its information.

The following questions will be answered during the lab:

1. Compare walking vs driving routes, times, and distances from the "Viena Europaplatz 2" train station to the "Geblergasse" Hotel.
2. Determine the walking distance and time required to visit each of the five closest points of interest from the "Geblergasse" Hotel.
3. Let's suppose that additional friends and family arrived in Vienna, and four cars have been rented to go to the points of interest. Optimize and compare the car routes from the hotel, considering that each car will go to a maximum of six unique points of interest and that 20 minutes will be spent in each location. The route will end at the same point of departure.
4. Select the points of interest that have a score equal to or greater than 4.7 and create 4, 8, 12 minutes walking time zones.

To determine the 5 closest points of interest to the hotel and their respective walking distance - time. I used the "Find Nearest" tool with the parameter "Limit the number of nearest locations to" as 5.

The following points of interest were selected (Map II):

1. Rathaus - 1.81 km - 21.78 Minutes.
2. Parlament - 2.34 km - 28.06 Minutes.
3. Naturhistorisches Museum Wien - 2.63 km - 31.60 Minutes.
4. MuseumsQuartier - 2.71 km - 32.56 Minutes.
5. Spanish Riding School - 2.75 km - 32.97 Minutes.

In this Lab, we explored a basic everyday example in which Network Analysis was used to optimize the time and distances in Viena. If this was a real scenario, after the Analysis, I would be really prepared to travel to Viena and in just one day, get to know the most touristic places.

Think for a second about the potential of Network Analysis if it is implemented to bigger questions... that's why it's really important for thousands of processes.

In conclusion, Network Analysis is fundamental to optimizing time and distances, no matter the scale and aim of the analysis. It has provided us since its implementation with information to make our lives easier and for sure, it will be used for a long time.