Reference data that is formatted with country and language address elements is key to creating locators that support geocoding functions in multiple countries and languages. You can create single role locators for multiple countries and languages and multirole locators with multiple layers that support multiple countries and languages.
Country or Region
When building a locator, country is used to help handle local address patterns and formats, as well as identify where country-specific geocoding logic should be applied to the reference data. Region and region abbreviation are also important because they are used to help create different forms of state highways that are specific to each region or state. If the primary reference data used to build a locator contains data for multiple regions, you can search addresses or locations in all regions or limit your search and exclude matches outside of a selection of countries or regions. When building a locator with data for multiple countries or regions, the reference data must have a country code field. When you run the Create Locator tool, for Country or Region, select <As defined in data> to use the country codes you defined.
Showing country code in geocoded output
When building a locator, you can return the country code in the geocoded result, such as when using a continental or multiregion locator. If you want the country to be part of the geocoding result, set the Country or Region parameter in the Create Locator tool to <As defined in data>. Include a field in the reference data with country code values and map it to the Country Code field in the locator role. Using the data in the illustration in the Country or Region section, a locator based on the POI role is created when country is chosen in the Country or Region parameter named POI_country_from_combo_box. A second locator based on the POI role is created when <As defined in data> is chosen for the Country or Region parameter and a country code from the reference data is mapped to the Country Code field from the locator role named POI_country_code_from_reference_data. The result of searching for Epcot in the Locate pane is illustrated below.
Language
Language is also used to help format the output label where more than one language can be used in a country to represent addresses, as well as to identify where to apply language-specific geocoding logic to the reference data when building a locator. If language is included in the primary reference data used to build the locator, you can search for addresses or locations in the same country or region using multiple languages. For example, North America is a multilingual region and each feature in the reference data is represented by a record for each language spoken, such as English, French, and Spanish. This means that you can search for the same address or place in all languages represented in the data using a single locator. When building a locator with data for multiple languages, include a language code field and select <As defined in data> for the Language Code parameter.