Getting the distance between points and the closest edge of the nearest polygon

[WayneDavis]

I am trying to get the distance from points to the closest edge of the nearest polygon. Does the Nearest Tool calculate distances to the polygon centroid or to the boundary?

[BrandonB]

The Distance tool help documentation does a great job of explaining the different configuration options: https://help.alteryx.com/current/designer/distance-tool

1. Point-to-point: The Distance tool calculates the distance between two sets of point type spatial objects. An example is calculating the distance from records in a customer file (point type) to records in a store file (point type).
2. Point-to-edge (line): The Distance tool calculates the distance between a set of point type spatial objects and the closest edge of a set of line type spatial objects. An example is calculating the distance from the records in a customer file (point type) to the nearest interstate highway (edge of line spatial type).
3. Point-to-edge (polygon ): The Distance tool calculates the distance between a set of point type spatial objects and the closest edge of a set of polygon type spatial objects.
   • When the points are contained within the polygons, you can choose one of two options: Return a distance of zero, or Return the distance to the nearest edge. If the point is located inside of a polygon the Distance tool returns a negative number for the distance to the edge of the containing polygon.
   • When the points are contained outside of the polygons, you can also choose to have the Distance tool calculate the Nearest Interior point within the nearest edge of a polygon.
   • While this method of calculating distance takes the curvature of the Earth into consideration, it is not a routing routine and does not follow street patterns or honor physical barriers such as bodies of water.

[WayneDavis · Accepted solution]

I did a comparison between Distance and Nearest Tools. The Nearest Tool calculates distances the same as point-to-line and point-to-polygon in the Distance Tool when you have the Polygon or Lines as your Nearest Tool Universe (note that the Distance Tool was configured to return a distance of 0 when the point is inside the polygon). This answers my own question - Nearest Tool does calculate the distance to the nearest edge of the closest polygon.