Calculating Distances between Capital Cities in ArcGIS using the CShapes Dataset

Abstract

The distance between capital cities is a variable, researchers are interested in when it comes to explain the diffusion of social policies across countries. The objective of this technical paper is to describe how distances between capital cities were calculated for WeSIS and to give a step-by-step visual guide to help other researchers with the procedure in ArcGIS. It will also include all amendments that have been made to the CShapes dataset to meet the WeSIS coding rules and correct minor inconsistencies.