When employing the proximity (or “nearest”) option, a record for each feature in
the source layer’s attribute table is appended to the closest given feature in the
destination layer’s attribute table. The proximity option will typically add a
numerical field to the destination layer attribute table, called “Distance,” within
which the measured distance between the source and destination feature is placed.
For example, suppose a city agency had a point dataset showing all known polluters
in town and a line dataset of all the river segments within the municipal boundary.