Hierarchy defines the order or class to which network elements are assigned. A road network may include an attribute for source features that categorizes roads into three (or more) classes (e.g. highways, main roads, minor roads). You can use this attribute for the source features in order to create a hierarchy attribute for your network dataset. If a hierarchy attribute is existing, it is possible to decide before calculation whether it should be used or ignored.

 

Hierarchy configuration

Hierarchy configuration

 

Property

Description

Use

If Yes (default value), the hierarchy attribute for the network should be used in analysis. Using a hierarchy tends to reduce the time it takes to solve an analysis across a large network. It also simulates how drivers generally elect to travel on highways and interstates because navigating on higher-order roads is more predictable and simpler than on lower-order roads. The drawback of hierarchical solving is that it is not exact; that is, you might be able to further minimize the travel time or distance of an analysis by ignoring the hierarchy.

Hierarchy properties