Tutorial: Create a locator

In this exercise, you will create a single role locator with a primary role of Street Address, an alternate name table, a custom output field, and high precision.

Get the data

The data for this tutorial is available for download on arcgis.com.

1. Go to the item description web page of the geocoding tutorial data on arcgis.com.
2. Click Download, and save the file locally.
3. Unzip the downloaded file.

Create a Street Address locator

In this exercise, you will build a Street Address locator using an Atlanta streets layer.

1. Open ArcGIS Pro.
2. Create a project from the Map template.
3. Right-click Folders in the Catalog pane, and click Add Folder Connection.
4. On the Add Folder Connection dialog box, browse to the geocoding tutorial folder and click OK.
5. Expand Folders in the Catalog pane, and expand the geocoding tutorial folder that you added in the previous step.
6. Expand the Atlanta.gdb geodatabase inside of the geocoding tutorial folder.
7. Drag the streets feature class inside the geodatabase onto the map.

   The map zooms to Atlanta, Georgia, and a street layer is visible on the map. The streets layer is also shown in the Contents pane.

8. Drag the altname table inside the geodatabase onto the map.

   The altname table is shown in the Contents pane.

9. In the Geoprocessing pane, type create locator in the search box.

   If the Geoprocessing pane is not open, on the Analysis tab, click Tools to open the Geoprocessing pane.

10. Click the Create Locator tool to open the tool in the Geoprocessing pane.
11. In the Create Locator tool, leave the Country or Region parameter as the default value of United States.
12. Select streets from the drop-down menu for the Primary Table parameter.

    The layer is available in the drop-down menu because it has been added to the map.

13. Select Street Address from the drop-down menu for the Role parameter.

    For more information on the other roles you can use to build locators, you can review the introduction to primary locator roles.

14. Map the fields in the Field Mapping portion of the geoprocessing tool by selecting the appropriate field from the Alias Name drop-down menu for each relevant field name in the Role: Street Address section.
    1. Select L_F_ADD for Left House Number From.
    2. Select L_T_ADD for Left House Number To.
    3. Select R_F_ADD for Right House Number From.
    4. Select R_T_ADD for Right House Number To.
    5. Select PREFIX for Prefix Direction.
    6. Select PRE_TYPE for Prefix Type.
    7. Select NAME for Street Name.
    8. Select TYPE for Suffix Type.
    9. Select SUFFIX for Suffix Direction.
    10. Select CITYL for Left City.
    11. Select CITYR for Right City.
    12. Select STATE_ABBR for Left State Abbreviation.
    13. Select STATE_ABBR for Right State Abbreviation.
    14. Select ZIPL for Left ZIP.
    15. Select ZIPR for Right ZIP.

    You can find more information about the types of values expected for each locator role field by reviewing locator role fields.

15. Modify the Output Locator parameter to rename the output locator Atlanta_Streets.
16. Select English from the Language Code drop-down menu.

    Optionally, you can run the tool now to create a Street Address locator for the city of Atlanta, or you can continue with the next steps to add an alternate street name table.

Add an alternate street name table to your locator

Adding an alternate name table to your locator will allow for you to search for addresses using official or alternate street names, for instance Old 10th St, Atlanta Blvd, or Old Country Rd. Learn more about how you can make use of alternate name tables with your own data.

1. Expand the Optional Parameters section of the Create Locator tool.
2. Select altname from the Alternate Name Tables drop-down menu.

   The table is available in the drop-down menu because you added it to the map.

3. Select Alternate Street Name from the Role drop-down menu for the table.
4. Map the fields in the Alternate Data Field Mapping portion of the geoprocessing tool by selecting the appropriate field from the Alias Name drop-down menu for each relevant field name in the Role: Alternate Street Name section.
   1. Select JOINID for Street Join ID.
   2. Select PRE_DIR for Prefix Direction.
   3. Select PRE_TYPE for Prefix Type.
   4. Select ST_NAME for Street Name.
   5. Select ST_TYPE for Suffix Type.
   6. Select SUF_DIR for Suffix Direction.
5. Scroll back up to the Role: Street Address section, and select JoinID for Street Join ID in Field Mapping.

   Optionally, you can run the tool now to create a Street Address locator for the city of Atlanta with alternate street names, or you can continue with the next steps to add a custom output field.

Add a custom output field to your locator

You can select additional fields from the reference data to add them to the locator when the locator is created. These fields are used to provide additional information about the geocode result. The custom output fields do not participate in searching for the address or place but are returned with all geocode results in addition to any default output fields. The maximum number of custom output fields supported in the locator is 50.

1. Type CFCC in the Custom Output Fields text box in the Optional Parameters section of the Create Locator tool, and press TAB to persist the field.

   After typing the name of the field to use as the custom output field, the new field is automatically added to Field Mapping, where you must assign the field from the reference data to the new set of fields in Field Mapping.

2. Scroll back up to the Role: Street Address section, and select CFCC for CFCC_left and for CFCC_right in Field Mapping.

   Optionally, you can run the tool now to create a Street Address locator for the city of Atlanta with alternate street names and your configured custom output field, or you can continue with the next steps to create your locator with higher than default precision.

Update the precision settings of your locator

You can optionally set the precision of the locator. By default the locator is created with Global High Precision, which returns results that are within 0.5 meters of the original reference data globally. Global Extra High returns results that are within 1 centimeter of the original reference data globally and Local Extra High can return results with even more precision for local areas that are smaller in size.

1. Select Local Extra High from the Precision Type drop-down menu in the Optional Parameters section of the Create Locator tool.

   This increased precision level is suitable for local geocoding.

Run the tool to create your locator

1. Click Run to create the Atlanta Street Address locator.

   A warning message is returned after running the tool, which is expected because the streets feature class only has one field with state values and it must be used twice for both sides of the street in the Field Mapping. For more details about the warning, click WARNING 003107. The Create Locator tool can show warning or error messages while using or after running the tool. Clicking the warning or error number opens a help topic that provides more details about the message.

   The locator is created in your project folder by default and is automatically added to the project. You can use it in the Locate pane, in the Geocode Table pane, and anywhere else you use locators.

   Tip:

   Since the field mapping in the Create Locator tool can become complex when creating a multirole locator, consider building a model with ModelBuilder to create locators. When you build a model, you can re-create the locator if the reference data changes, if you need to modify the locator by adding custom output fields, or if you want to share how the locator was created with a colleague. Another option for keeping track of the settings used to build the locator is to create the locator with the Create Locator tool once and save the previously executed tool as either a Python script or a geoprocessing package from the History pane on the Geoprocessing tab.

Using the steps above creates a locator based on the Street Address role that supports searching for addresses with house numbers, street intersections, street blocks, addresses with alternate street names, and only street names. This locator can be used to geocode the customers table that is included in the Geocode a table of addresses tutorial as well as search for addresses in the Locate pane. Search for the following addresses by either copying and pasting the address in the search box and pressing Enter or typing the address and selecting the suggestion that is displayed as you type.

Tip:

To disable all other locators in the project before using the Atlanta Street Address locator, click the Options button , and uncheck the providers listed except for the Atlanta Street Address locator.

• Falcon Way, Atlanta
• 41 Kimball Way SE, Atlanta, 30303
• Jett St NW & Sunset Ave NW, Atlanta, GA 30318
• 700 block of Peachtree St NE, Atlanta, 30308
• 30 Atlanta Blvd, Atlanta, 30309

Note:

You can also geocode global coordinates (latitude/longitude, MGRS, DD, or USNG) using any locator created with the Create Locator tool. Support for coordinate searching is disabled or enabled under Categories to support on the Geocoding options page of the Locator Properties dialog box for the locator.