How to Draw Lines from One Point to Multiple Destinations in ArcMap 9.3

Question

I need to create lines from an airport to numerous destination locations. The destinations change often, so drawing them manually becomes tedious. I want to create a script that will draw them automatically. Does anyone know how to do this?

I've written a number of scripts for ArcGIS 10 using arcpy, but nothing for 9.3. If you could point me in the right direction that would be great.

Answer 1

In Arc, they call these "Desire Lines" or "Spider Diagrams". There are a number of ArcGIS Toolbox tools that have already been created to to just this task:

Take a look at the ArcGIS Resource center for Geoprocessing under Model and Script Tool Gallery:

• Spider Diagram Tool for ArcGIS 10.0
• Spider Function For ArcGIS Desktop 10
• Spider

Or ArcScripts:

• Spider Diagram Tools for ArcGIS 9.2 (New and Improved)
• Create Spider Graph from Shapefiles

Or if you have the Business Analyst Extension:

• Create spider diagram (desire lines)

Or SoCalGIS python script:

• Spider Diagrams

Outside of the Arc platform, you can also:

• Create Spider Lines in PostGIS