Tutorial: Create a multirole locator

In this exercise, you will create a multirole locator with primary roles of Point Address, Street Address, and ZIP. A multirole locator consists of multiple reference data layers and locator roles. The multirole locator can be used to combine multiple data layers with different geometry types from many sources and multiple locator roles into a single locator. This allows you to have a single locator that can search for rooftop locations, interpolated street locations, points of interest, postal codes, and administrative areas. Creating a multirole locator reduces redundant information and candidates, which can be beneficial for performance and reducing the size of the locator on disk.

Download the data

Download the data for this tutorial from 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 the locator

To create a multirole locator, complete the following steps:

1. Start 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 SanMarcos geodatabase in the geocoding tutorial folder.
7. Drag the AddressPoints feature class from the folder onto the map.

   The map zooms to San Marcos, California, and a point layer is visible on the map. The point layer is also shown in the Contents pane.

8. Drag the Roads feature class from the folder onto the map.

   A street line layer is visible on the map. The street layer is also shown in the Contents pane.

9. Drag the ZipCodes feature class from the folder onto the map.

   A polygon layer is visible on the map. The polygon layer is also shown in the Contents pane.

10. 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.

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

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

14. For the Role parameter, select Point Address from the drop-down menu.

    For information about other roles you can use to build locators, see Primary locator roles.

15. In the Field Mapping portion of the tool, select the appropriate field from the Alias Name drop-down menu for each relevant field name in the Role: Point Address section to map the fields.
    1. Select ADDRNMBR for House Number.
    2. Select ADDRPDIR for Prefix Direction.
    3. Select ADDRNAME for Street Name.
    4. Select ADDRSFX for Suffix Type.
    5. Select ADDRPOSTD for Suffix Direction.
    6. Select ADDRUNIT for Unit.

       The ADDRUNIT field contains the subunit information for address locations for an apartment complex or shopping plaza, for example, and when mapped to the Unit locator role field you add support for subaddress searches. To return subaddress suggestions when entering the partial subaddress name, you must enable the Suggest as partial unit is typed setting on the Geocoding options page in the Locator Properties dialog box. To return a summary of subaddresses after typing the base address, enable the Show summary of subaddresses with base address suggestion setting in the Suggestion Options section of the Geocoding options page in the Locator Properties dialog box. To return a list of the subaddresses after typing the base address, enable the Suggest when base address is typed setting in the Suggestions for Subaddresses drop-down in the Suggestion Options section of the Geocoding options page in the Locator Properties dialog box.

    7. Select COMMUNITY for City.
    8. Select STATE for State.
    9. Select ADDRZIP for ZIP.

    For more information about the types of values expected for each locator role field, see Locator role fields.

16. For the Primary Table parameter, select Roads from the drop-down menu.

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

17. For the Role parameter, select Street Address from the drop-down menu.
18. In the Field Mapping portion of the tool, select the appropriate field from the Alias Name drop-down menu for each relevant field name in the Role: Street Address section to map the fields.
    1. Select LLOWADDR for Left House Number From.
    2. Select LHIGHADDR for Left House Number To.
    3. Select RLOWADDR for Right House Number From.
    4. Select RHIGHADDR for Right House Number To.
    5. Select RD30PRED for Prefix Direction.
    6. Select RD30NAME for Street Name.
    7. Select RD30SFX for Suffix Type.
    8. Select RD30POSTD for Suffix Direction.
    9. Select L_ZIP for Left ZIP.
    10. Select R_ZIP for Right ZIP.
19. For the Primary Table parameter, select ZipCodes from the drop-down menu.

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

20. For the Role parameter, select ZIP from the drop-down menu.
21. In the Field Mapping portion of the tool, select the appropriate field from the Alias Name drop-down menu for each relevant field name in the Role: ZIP section to map the fields.
    1. Select ZIP for ZIP.
    2. Select COMMUNITY for City.
22. For the Output Locator parameter, rename the output locator SanMarcos_Multirole.
23. Select English from the Language Code drop-down menu.
24. In the Optional Parameters section of the tool, select Local Extra High from the Precision Type drop-down menu.

    This increased precision level is suitable for local geocoding.

25. Click Run to create the San Marcos multirole locator.

    The locator is created in the 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.

The steps above create a multirole locator based on the Point Address role that supports searching for point address and subaddress locations; the Street Address role that supports searching for addresses with house numbers, street intersections, street blocks, and street names; and the ZIP (Postal) role that supports searching for ZIP Codes or postal codes. This locator can be used to search for addresses in the search box of the Locate pane and to interactively identify what is near a location on the map using What's here?. Search for the following addresses by either copying the address into the search box and pressing Enter or typing the address in the search box and selecting one of the suggestions that appears as you type. To see more details about the results that are returned in the Locate pane, right-click the result and select Show Details. Pay attention to the Addr_type field in the pop-up to see the match level for the address matched. To search for subaddresses using the partial subaddress name in the input address, enable the Suggest as partial unit is typed setting on the Geocoding options page on the Locator Properties dialog box. To search for an address and get a summary of the subaddresses at the location after typing the base address, enable the Show summary of subaddresses with base address suggestion setting in the Suggestion Options section of the Geocoding options page in the Locator Properties dialog box. To search for an address and get a list of subaddresses at the location after typing the base address, enable the Suggest when base address is typed setting in the Suggestions for Subaddresses drop-down in the Suggestion Options section of the Geocoding options page in the Locator Properties dialog box. A feature that represents the base address is required in the reference data used to build the locator to return suggestions after typing the base address.

Tip:

To disable all other locators in the project before using the San Marcos multirole locator, click the Options button , and uncheck the providers listed except for the San Marcos multirole locator.

• 3900 La Rosa Dr 92078
• 650 Grove Hill Dr,92069
• 1644 Circa Del Lago E203, San Marcos, CA
• 1560 Circa Del Lago #D3, San Marcos, CA
• 1508 Circa Del Lago, San Marcos, CA
• 1616 Circa Del Lago, San Marcos, CA
• 240 Las Flores Dr, San Marcos, CA, 92069
• West San Marcos Blvd & S Las Posas Rd, 92078
• 1900 block of Mulberry Dr
• 92078

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.