Expand a business network with demographics

A railway company operates both rail lines and intermodal facilities (locations where cargo is switched from one mode of transport to another) in Iowa. The company wants to know which intermodal facilities have the most nearby businesses in industries likely to make use of intermodal freight, such as transportation, wholesale trade, agriculture, and mining. By identifying these facilities, the company can target outreach in specific areas to expand its network of customers.

In this tutorial, you'll map intermodal facilities in Iowa in ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App. Then, you'll perform suitability analysis to rank each facility based on the number of businesses in relevant industries in the nearby area. The results will show the railway company the intermodal facilities that present the best opportunities to expand its business network.

This tutorial was last tested on June 26, 2025.

Requirements

• ArcGIS organizational account with a Publisher or Administrator role
• ArcGIS Business Analyst Web App Advanced

Map intermodal freight facilities

To perform analysis on intermodal facilities, you first have to map them. You'll add a layer of intermodal rail and truck facilities to a map in Business Analyst Web App and filter the layer to only include facilities in Iowa, where the railway company operates. You'll also create drive-time areas around each facility to represent a reasonable distance local businesses might travel to use the facilities.

Create a project

First, you'll create a project in Business Analyst Web App. Projects are collections of content, such as maps, data, and reports.

1. Go to Business Analyst Web App.
2. If you are not signed in, click Sign In. Sign in with your ArcGIS organizational account.

   Note:

   If you don't have an organizational account, see options for software access.

   Your account must be licensed to use Business Analyst Web App. If you are the administrator of your organization, you can assign yourself a license. Otherwise, you'll need to contact your administrator for permission. To perform suitability analysis later in this workflow, you need an Advanced license.

3. If necessary, close the Welcome or What's new in Business Analyst window.
4. On the ribbon, confirm the Home tab is selected. Click New project.

   

5. In the Create Project window, for Project name, type Intermodal Facility Suitability Analysis and add your name or initials.

   Note:

   Two projects with the same name can't exist in the same ArcGIS organization. Adding your name or initials to the project name ensures it is unique.

6. Click Create.

   A message explains that the project is being created. When it finishes, a confirmation message appears.

7. In the confirmation message, check Open new projects as soon as they are created and click OK.

   Note:

   Alternatively, you can open your project by closing the confirmation window and finding the project under the Projects tab on the Home page. Point to the project and click Open project to open it.

   The project appears. Before you continue, you'll set the data source. Business Analyst includes multiple country-specific data sources. In this tutorial, you're analyzing locations in the United States, so you'll set the data source to one that uses appropriate data.

8. On the ribbon, confirm Data source is set to USA (Esri 2025) (or a more recent year if available).

   

   Note:

   If your data source is different, click the Data source drop-down button. In the list of data sources, click USA and, if necessary, select the most recent data source.

Add the data

Next, you'll add a layer of rail and truck intermodal facilities in the Midwest to your project.

1. On the ribbon, click the Add data tab and choose Web maps and layers.

   

   The Web maps and layers window appears. From this window, you can add content to your project from your account, ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, or ArcGIS Online. The layer you'll add is hosted on ArcGIS Online.

2. Under Explore, click ArcGIS.

   

3. In the search bar, type Rail and Truck Intermodal Freight Facilities. In the list of results, point to Rail and Truck Intermodal Freight Facilities (Tutorial) and click Add to map.

   

   Facilities across the Midwest appear on the map.

   

Filter the data

The layer of intermodal freight facilities you added covers several Midwestern states, but the railway company only operates in Iowa. You'll filter the layer to only show facilities in Iowa. You'll also create drive-time areas around the facilities, which you'll analyze later in the workflow.

1. If necessary, in the project pane, under Web maps and layers, expand Rail and Truck Intermodal Freight Facilities (Tutorial).

   

2. For Rail_and_Truck_Intermodal_Freight_Facilities, click the options button and choose Filter by attributes.

   

   The Filter layer by attributes and Attribute table panes appear. Attributes are data associated with the features in a layer. This layer has an attribute that shows what state each feature is in, which you can use to filter the layer to only include features in Iowa.

3. For Select attribute, click the drop-down arrow and choose State.

   

   Next, you'll choose the state to filter by. The states are listed in the data by their abbreviations. Iowa's abbreviation is IA.

4. Under State, for Select item to filter by, choose IA.

   

   The filter is applied automatically. Only the 73 intermodal freight facilities in Iowa are displayed on the map.

   

   You'll save the filtered layer as a new layer so you can create drive-time areas around each facility and use the results for your suitability analysis.

5. At the bottom of the Filter layer by attributes pane, click Save as new layer.

   You can choose to save the layer as points or as sites. Sites are used by Business Analyst for analysis, so this is the format you want.

6. In the Save as new layer window, select Create and save sites for all points (max 1000).

   

   Sites must be polygons, not points. To turn your facility points into polygons, you can add buffers around them. You have options for how to create buffers. Your interest is in shipping and freight, so you'll create buffers that measure the time it takes to drive away from the facility. Businesses that are within a reasonable driving distance of the facility are more likely to use it.

7. Click the Drive time tab. For Time, delete the text in the three boxes and type 30 in the first box.

   

   The result will be a polygon around each facility that covers all locations that can be driven to from the facility within 30 minutes.

8. For New layer name, type Intermodal Freight Facilities in Iowa.
9. Click Save.

   The layer starts to be created. A window appears, informing you that the selected sites contain a different set of attributes and prompting you to choose a layer to retain them. You'll continue to create a new layer, which will retain the site attributes.

10. In the Save created sites window, ensure Create a new layer is selected. Click Save.

    Note:

    If you previously completed this workflow and checked Don't show this dialog again, the Save created sites window will not appear.

    The layer is created. On the map, drive-time areas appear around each site.

    

You have mapped the rail and truck intermodal facilities in Iowa and created drive-time areas around them that can be used for analysis. Next, you'll perform suitability analysis to determine which facility has the most nearby economic activity in relevant industries.

Perform a suitability analysis

In Business Analyst, suitability analysis allows you to decide which factors are most important to you, then evaluate and rank sites on a map according to these criteria. You'll perform suitability analysis on the intermodal rail and truck facilities in Iowa to understand which facilities present the best business opportunities for the rail line.

Select sites

You'll begin your suitability analysis by choosing the sites to analyze, which you've already added to the map.

1. On the ribbon, click Run analysis and choose Suitability analysis.

   

   Note:

   Suitability analysis is only available with Business Analyst Web App Advanced. If you have a Standard license, you won't be able to perform it.

   The Suitability analysis pane appears. It may show a welcome pane, outlining the steps of suitability analysis, or prompt you to select the location type to analyze.

2. If necessary, in the Suitability analysis pane, click Get started.

   Note:

   To opt out of seeing the welcome pane in the future, check the Skip this step in the future box.

3. For Select location type, confirm Your sites is selected.

   

4. Click Next.

   The Add sites window appears, prompting you to choose the sites to use.

5. In the Add sites window, click the Currently on map tab. Check the Name box to select every site.

   

6. Click Apply. In the Suitability analysis pane, confirm that 73 sites are selected and click Next.

   Next, you'll select the analysis criteria.

Select criteria

Next, you'll select the analysis criteria to determine which sites are most suitable. The criteria you choose will be based on business data and consumer behavior in industries that are likely to use rail freight, such as transportation, wholesale trade, mining, and agriculture.

1. In the Suitability analysis pane, under Create a list, click Select criteria.

   

2. Choose Add variables from data browser.

   

   The Data browser window appears. This window contains thousands of data variables covering a wide range of topics. You'll add variables related to business.

3. In the Data browser window, under Standard variables, click Business.

   

   The Business category appears. Several popular variables are displayed. You'll find business data for potential client businesses by searching for NAICS codes. NAICS codes are numerical identifiers that classify types of businesses.

4. Click Industry by NAICS Code.

   

   The list of categories is filtered to those that include NAICS codes.

5. In the variables list, select each of the following variables:
   • 2025 Agric/Forestry/Fish/Hunting (NAICS11) Businesses
   • 2025 Mining (NAICS21) Businesses
   • 2025 Wholesale Trade (NAICS42) Businesses
   • 2025 Transportation/Warehouse (NAICS48-49) Businesses

   Note:

   Data is periodically updated. Use more recent data if it is available.

   

   As you select each variable, they are added to the Selected variables list.

6. At the top of the window, click Selected variables.

   

   The four variables you selected are listed. If you wanted, you could add more variables covering different types of businesses. For instance, there is a large demand to ship cars over rail, as it is more cost-effective. Alternatively, you could add demographic information about the local population. For this workflow, the four variables you chose are sufficient.

   Note:

   The results of your suitability analysis will be heavily influenced by the variables you select. When performing suitability analysis for your own data, think about what criteria are the most important to consider.

7. At the bottom of the Data browser window, click Apply.

   The suitability analysis is performed. On the map, sites with the highest values for the criteria you chose are styled with darker shades of red. The number on each site is its rank among the 73 sites.

   

Weight criteria

Weights indicate how strongly each variable affects the results of the suitability analysis. By default, each variable has an equal weight. By increasing the weight of certain variables, you can specify which factors are most important to you in ranking sites.

1. In the Suitability analysis pane, scroll to the Weighting section and click Adjust weights.

   

   The Adjust weights window appears. Weights are expressed as a percentage, with all weights combined adding up to 100 percent.

   Iowa is a major producer of grain. Trains are efficient for moving large quantities of agricultural products, including grain, across long distances. Because of the importance of agricultural businesses in this area and to the railway company, you'll increase the weight for this variable.

2. For 2025 Agric/Forestry/Fish/Hunt Bus (NAICS), change the weight to 40 and press Enter.

   

   The weights of the other variables are automatically adjusted, evenly distributing the remainder of the pie (each is now set to 20 percent). The site rankings on the map adjust to match.

3. For 2025 Agric/Forestry/Fish/Hunt Sales (NAICS), click the lock button.

   

   Locking the weight prevents changes to it when you adjust the other weights.

4. Adjust the following weights, locking each after changing it:
   • For 2025 Mining Businesses (NAICS), set the weight to 25.
   • For 2025 Wholesale Trade Businesses (NAICS), set the weight to 15.
   • For 2025 Transportation/Warehouse Businesses (NAICS), set the weight to 20.

   

5. Click Done.

   You've weighted the variables so that your suitability analysis reflects the criteria that are most important to you. In this case, you are most interested in intermodal freight facilities with agricultural businesses nearby. The proximity of mining, transportation and warehouse, and wholesale trade businesses are also important to you to varying, lesser degrees.

View and export the results

Now that you've finished your suitability analysis, you'll explore the results in more detail and find the site with the highest suitability ranking. You'll filter the results to only show facilities with high rankings and export the results as a Microsoft Excel file so they can be shared with the railway company's executives.

1. In the Results pane, click the Table button.

   

   The table lists the 73 sites, ordered from highest to lowest rank.

   Tip:

   If you want to see more of the table, you can resize it by dragging the top of the Results pane.

2. In the table, point to the first record.

   When you point to a record in the table, the corresponding site is highlighted on the map.

   

   You can also point to a site on the map to view a pop-up with the site's name, suitability score (from 0 to 1, with higher values being more suitable), and rank among the sites.

3. On the map, point to the site with the highest ranking.

   

   The pop-up also lists the number of businesses in the area for each variable.

   Next, you'll filter the results to only show the most suitable sites.

4. In the Suitability analysis pane, under Legend, click Filter results.

   

   You can filter by rank or score. You'll filter by score to show the sites with scores over 0.5, indicating high suitability.

5. Under Filter by final score, set the lower value to 0.5.

   

6. Click Done.

   The map now shows only the sites that scored 50 percent or higher in the suitability analysis.

   

   To share the results of your suitability analysis with interested stakeholders at the railway company, you'll export the attribute table.

7. In the Results pane, click Export to Excel.

   

8. In the Export to Excel window, click Export.

   Your browser downloads a Microsoft Excel file named Suitability analysis. When you open the file, you see your suitability analysis results as a table. You can also save the suitability analysis as a new layer in your project by clicking Save layer at the bottom of the Suitability analysis pane. This option is helpful if you want to return to this analysis later.

In this tutorial, you learned how to find and add and filter a layer in Business Analyst and perform a suitability analysis on it. Using the results of the suitability analysis, the railway company can decide which intermodal freight facilities present the best opportunities to expand its business network. By identifying sites located near a large number of businesses that might use intermodal facilities, the railway is now prepared to reach out to businesses in these areas.

You can find more tutorials in the tutorial gallery.

Acknowledgements

• The Rail and Truck Intermodal Freight Facilities feature layer is a snapshot of data for the state of Iowa created from the Intermodal Freight Facilities Rail Trailer on Flatcar and Container on Flatcar feature layer, which is regularly updated by the United States Bureau of Transportation Statistics, under the United States Department of Transportation. Accessed November 2022.
• Esri Demographics data access with ArcGIS Business Analyst. Terms of use.
• Gallery card image is © 2023 Adobe Stock. All rights reserved.
• World Street Map tile layer sources: Esri, TomTom, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS User Community