Q: How do I calculate the distance between matched pairs of points in ArcGIS?

Answer

The XY to Line tool can solve this problem in ArcGIS 10.X:

1. Create a table that contains these fields (at the very least):
   1. Unique ID: This might be a concatenated field based on the IDs of your two points. If your table contains the IDs of both points as well as a concatenated ID field, you can join the data together at the end.
   2. X coordinate of the first point
   3. Y coordinate of the first point
   4. X coordinate of the second point
   5. Y coordinate of the second point
   6. Note: X and Y coordinate fields can be created by calculating geometry in a point layer's attribute table.
2. Open the XY to Line tool (Data Management Tools > Features > XY to Line).
   1. Make sure the ID field is specified.
   2. GEODESIC should be the line type so that a straight line is created.
3. Open the attribute table of the resulting layer.
4. Add a field (type: Double) named DISTANCE
5. Right click on the heading of DISTANCE, click Calculate Geometry, and calculate the length in whatever units you wish.

Further Resources

• ESRI: XY to Line

See Also

• ArcGIS Landing Page

Created by MIT GIS Services. Email gishelp(at)mit.edu for more assistance.