Share a locator

This topic provides a brief walkthrough of how to share a locator as a service to an ArcGIS Enterprise portal, create a locator package, and create a mobile map package. More information about each of these can be found in Introduction to sharing locators.

Share a locator as a hosted service

Once a locator is created, it can be shared on your active ArcGIS portal. Sharing a locator as a hosted service in ArcGIS Enterprise is the way you make geocoding always available to everyone in your organization. Internet or intranet users can then use the hosted locator in web apps, ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Online, and other client applications.

Before sharing your locator, there are a few options for managing locator data in the server to consider. If your locator is, or should be, stored on the server in a specific location, register the folder location as a data store. Using a data store can minimize service downtime when restarting or overwriting a service. If your locator is stored on a local machine, the publishing process will copy the locator to the server. See the following topics to learn more about managing locator data:

• Make your data accessible to ArcGIS Server
• Copy data when publishing to ArcGIS Server

Note:

You can share a locator to an ArcGIS Enterprise portal or publish the locator to a stand-alone ArcGIS Server.

• When sharing a locator created with the Create Address Locator tool to the portal, you must be logged in, with publisher or administrator privileges, to ArcGIS Enterprise 10.5 with at least one federated server. However, ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9 will be the last release to support sharing locators to the portal created with Create Address Locator tool. Locators should be re-created in ArcGIS Pro 2.3 or later with the Create Locator tool.
• When sharing a locator created with the Create Locator tool to the portal, you must be logged in, with publisher or administrator privileges, to ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6.1 or later with at least one federated server.
• When sharing a locator based on the Parcel role created with the Create Locator tool or a locator created with the Create Feature Locator tool, you must be logged in, with publisher or administrator privileges, to ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8 or later with at least one federated server.
• When sharing a locator created with the Create Locator tool with the Precision Type parameter set to Global Extra High or Local Extra High, you must be logged in, with publisher or administrator privileges, to ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8.1 or later with at least one federated server.

If you are a member of a custom role in ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6 or later, be sure the administrator has granted you the privilege to Publish server-based layers. For details on publishing a locator to stand-alone ArcGIS Server 10.6 or later, see Publish a geocode service.

1. On the Share tab of the ribbon, in the Share As group, click the Locator drop-down menu and click Share locator .

   Tip:

   Alternatively, in the Catalog pane, expand Locators or folder connection in the Folders category and right-click the locator to share, then choose Share As Locator .

   The Select the Locator to Share dialog box appears.

2. Browse to select the locator to share and click OK.

   The Share Locator pane appears.

3. Fill in the information on the General tab of the Share Locator pane.
   1. The Name text box is populated automatically with the name of the locator, but you can change the name or provide a path to share the locator to a folder other than the root folder on the server. For example, you could type Locators\Atlanta.loc in the Name text box to create and share to a folder named Locators.
   2. You must provide information in the Item Description, Summary, and Tags text boxes.
   3. Optionally, you can define which people in your organization you want to share your locator with by modifying Sharing Option.
4. Optionally, you can modify the service properties on the Configuration tab of the Share Locator tab.
5. On the Content tab of the Share Locator tab, you can view the folder structure into which your locator will be shared. You can also specify which federated server on your portal you want to share your locator to, assuming you have more than one. By default, your locator will be shared to your hosting server.

   Your locator is now running on the federated server on your portal and can be accessed by users and clients on your network. If you shared the locator as a server administrator and allowed web access to the service, your service is also now available on the web.

   You can add the locator from your portal to your project from the Portal tab of the Catalog pane. Browse to the shared locator there, right-click the locator, and choose Add to project. You can then use the locator in the Locate pane, Geocode Table pane, and in the geocoding geoprocessing tools.

Share a locator package

A good way to distribute a locator inside or outside of your organization is to create a locator package.

1. On the Analysis tab of the ribbon, click the Tools button to open the Geoprocessing pane.

   The Geoprocessing pane appears.

2. In the text box, search for the Package Locator (Data Management) tool, and click it to open.

   The Package Locator tool opens.

3. For the Input Locator, browse to the locator on disk that you want to package and share with others in your organization.
4. For the Output Locator, specify a location on disk to save the locator package.
5. Click Run to execute the geoprocessing tool.

   Once the tool has finished running, a .gcpk file is created, containing all the files from the original locator that can easily be shared for use in disconnected environments.

Share a locator in a mobile map package

If you need to share a locator for use in disconnected environments, you can create a mobile map package for use in mobile apps.

1. On the Share tab of the ribbon, in the Package section, click Mobile Map.

   The Package Mobile Map pane appears.

2. Select the Save package to file option if it's not already selected by default.

   The output is saved as an .mmpk file on disk.

3. Specify a save location and output file name in the Name text box.

   A default name and save location is generated automatically, but you can change these.

4. Provide a Summary and Tags to describe your locator and help users search for it or understand what it does.
5. Optionally change the extent of the map to be included in your mobile map package and specify whether you want to clip the data to that extent.
6. Check the Include Locator check box.

   Checking this box ensures that the locator is included with your mobile map package.

7. Click Package to create your mobile map package.

   Once the tool has finished running, an .mmpk file is created, containing all the files from the original locator that can be shared for use in disconnected mobile environments.

By examining why you need to share a locator with your organization and how it will be used, you can determine whether sharing a locator as a hosted service or as a package is the best workflow to achieve your goals.