Geocoding Addresses with Apartment Units

I have attached a style that will work with Apartment Units. Let me know if you have any issues.

Brad

Greene_Chris

Hi Brad -

It took awhile to get back around to geocoding again. Thanks for posting that locator. It seems to be doing the trick. However, have you noticed that it adds a '#' to every match_addr? I guess it's not important, but I just wanted to make sure that what I'm seeing isn't out of the ordinary.

Thanks -

Chris

Prior to SP2, we didn't have an easy way to only output formatting if there was a value associated with that component (ie. Apartment number). Therefore, thee # symbol always gets written out for the Match_addr even if there is no apartment number. If you have SP2 installed, I can fix it if needed.

Brad

Greene_Chris

Thanks for the offer but that's alright. The match_addr field isn't used for anything at the moment but I figured it didn't hurt to ask about the symbol.

Cheers - Chris

Brad, it would be nice if you could fix this locator so the # symbol doesn't always get written out. Thanks.

This style will only work with SP2 installed.

Thanks Brad for the quick response, but I've created a locator using the style you provided and when I reverse geocode using the Address Inspector the # symbol is still being written out after an address that doesn't have a unit number (ie. 111 N 100 E #). Also if I search for any address in the Find Location Tool or on the Geocoding toolbar using the locator created from the style, Arcmap crashes. I do have Service Pack 2 installed.

Sorry about that. This one is better.

Thanks again Brad, that one works better, but the # symbol is still being written out on addresses that don't have unit numbers when I reverse geocode using the address inspector tool.

Nevermind I got it to work by putting # in the pre_separator for the UnitNumber and taking out the preserve # under the reverse geocoding section. Thanks though.

NedCake

Hi Brad,
I am attempting to use the style you posted on 5/24/11 to publish a geocoding service in ArcGIS Server. My locator uses a point address feature class and a place name alias table. The locator works fine until I publish it. Unfortunately, in the published version all references to the alias table are removed. The locator service works but will no locate place names.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks
Ned

This is a known issue with 10.0 locators.

Brad

Brad,
I used the White Paper to create my own locator .lot file for units as well as my address fractional field. I have some questions that I hope you can answer.

Overall, when I use a locator built on this .lot, it returns all of the valid addresses (i.e. ALL of the unit points within the apartment complex). This also happens with the successful matches with addresses having a fractional (i.e. 80A N Main St). How do I "force" the locator to push the record with the actual unit or fractional match I am searching for to the very top?

Also, regarding the fractional field, I have been unable to match a "half" address (i.e. 440 1/2 N Main St). If I simply locate 440 N Main St, the system returns the "half" record. I think I am missing something really basic in the formatting but I'm stumped.

I compared my .lot with the version you posted and mine gets around the persistent "#" sign by using our UnitType (unit, ste, #) field along with the UnitNumber field. But I realize not everyone maintains their data in this way.

I am running SP1 at the moment, and I've attached my .lot.

Thanks for any insight,
Brian

USAddressWithUnit.lot.zip

I am not too sure where you are going wrong here but I am attaching the latest style. Maybe some of the issues you are having have been addressed in this style.

Brad

Brad,

Thank you for the latest style sample. It definitely filled in the gaps that the customization white paper fails to cover. My functional style file is attached. It honors fractional address fields as well as separate unit type and unit number fields. I hope folks find it useful if their data is structured in a similar way! Share it far and wide and please, ESRI, polish it and include it as a default in 10.1! I never want to have the need to do this customization again!

You need to place this style file in the locator directory of your ArcGIS install. The default location is:
C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\Locators

Our site address data layer uses the following fields:
Address
Address Fractional (i.e. the "A" or "1/2" in "80 A Main St" or "80 1/2 Main St")
Prefix Direction
Street Name
Street Type
Suffix Direction
Unit Type (i.e. Unit, Ste, #)
Unit Number
City
ZIP Code
State

The style has not been tested in any other configurations.

EDIT: We are currently on SP1--no testing with SP2 has been done!

Enjoy,
Brian

USAddressWithUnit.lot.zip

Everyone's advice has been extremely helpful, but I'm stuck on one point:

If I geocode an address that has a root location as well as sub/unit locations the geocoder always returns all matches. For all apartment completexes we have a root address (123 Main St) as well as unit addresses for each apartment (123 Main St #1, #2, etc). If a user geocodes "123 Main St" the root address should have a higher score than "123 Main St #1". How can I accomplish this? Or is it just not possible?

thanks in advance,
-chris

I have tweeked the style a bit more and I believe that I should post the updates.

Thanks for the quick reply Brad,

Unfortunately it hasn't helped my issue. I need a way to score an exact match higher than over-matches (addresses with units). See screen shot attached. I need to get the selected result (which exactly matches the searched string) to score higher than any unit address with the same root address.

-chris

locatorResults.png

Thanks for the quick reply Brad,

Unfortunately it hasn't helped my issue. I need a way to score an exact match higher than over-matches (addresses with units). See screen shot attached. I need to get the selected result (which exactly matches the searched string) to score higher than any unit address with the same root address.

-chris

Chris,

Did you rebuild with this style?

Brad

Chris,

Did you rebuild with this style?

Brad

I created a new locator from the style just to double check. It still returns the same problematic results.

If it makes any difference the locator is created in an SDE 10sp2 db and I'm using Desktop 10sp2.

-chris

I created a new locator from the style just to double check. It still returns the same problematic results.

If it makes any difference the locator is created in an SDE 10sp2 db and I'm using Desktop 10sp2.

-chris

You are correct. I found another issue. I have attached an update.

That's it!! thanks so much.

Brad,
I tried out your updated style and it works good except for when I have an address such as
150 N 1100 E #5 where there isn't a street type, it returns the address cannot be found.

SargentMcDonald

I am trying to use BrianO's USAddresswithUnit that he posted here. However , it is doing something strange on the West pre directional. If I use W in the search it gets a score of 68 if I use West it gets 100, even though our reference data is using W. We only have West directional so I can't tell if it is the other directions too.
I also created a locator with Brad's SingleHousewithUnits posted here and the W - West works fine as either gets 100% as it should. I am trying to get Brian's to work since we have fractional addresses. The xml looks the same in the Street Directions area for both, but they don't act the same.

Any ideas what is wrong? I am liking the 10 locators, no more alias table to manage. Just need to get the W alias working.
Thanks

I am trying to use BrianO's USAddresswithUnit that he posted here. However , it is doing something strange on the West pre directional. If I use W in the search it gets a score of 68 if I use West it gets 100, even though our reference data is using W. We only have West directional so I can't tell if it is the other directions too.
I also created a locator with Brad's SingleHousewithUnits posted here and the W - West works fine as either gets 100% as it should. I am trying to get Brian's to work since we have fractional addresses. The xml looks the same in the Street Directions area for both, but they don't act the same.

Any ideas what is wrong? I am liking the 10 locators, no more alias table to manage. Just need to get the W alias working.
Thanks

Is the fraction in a separate field? It looks like there are two reasons that BrianO needed to add fractional types of addresses.
1. It looks like there was a need to support house numbers like 100 A1/2 main st. Do you also require support for alpha characters in front of the fraction? If not, the style should handle addresses like 100 1/2 main st.
2. It looks like the reference data that was being used had the fractional house number in a separate field as well which needed to be added to the style OR concatenation to the house number before the locator is built.

SargentMcDonald

We have fractional addresses but not with letters before them, just 1/2. I was going to add a fractional field to our data now that I know about these locators. Before we just had it concatenated to the address field (not used in locator) so we didn't geocode with units or fractions. Now it seems I can do both. Are you saying the the SingleHousewithUnits supports fractions? It seemed to me only Brian's did. So my issue isn't with the fractions yet (as I haven't got the data set up . I was only testing these for units and the pre directional W in Brian's doesn't work.
Thanks.

It should support fractional house numbers. Let me know if you have any issues with them once your data is ready.

Brad

Is the fraction in a separate field? It looks like there are two reasons that BrianO needed to add fractional types of addresses.
1. It looks like there was a need to support house numbers like 100 A1/2 main st. Do you also require support for alpha characters in front of the fraction? If not, the style should handle addresses like 100 1/2 main st.
2. It looks like the reference data that was being used had the fractional house number in a separate field as well which needed to be added to the style OR concatenation to the house number before the locator is built.

I just want to clarify our address structure. Regarding item #1, we don't have alpha character in front of the fraction but we do have alpha characters in our fractional field. (i.e. we may have a 100 A main st or a 100 1/2 main st, with the "A" or the "1/2" located in our fractional field).

Brad is correct on item #2. We have a separate field which contains the fractional house number (the "A" or the "1/2") and I needed to add it to the style to get it recognized.

Sargent, your experience with the "W" vs. "West" is what I see as well, so it doesn't seem to be your data in particular. My hypothesis was that the locator ideally wants all of the fields filled in when it does a match and knocks off a few points of confidence for each field that isn't present. If the code blocks between my version and Brad's version are the same, I wonder if adding the fraction field upset some nuance of operation? Maybe Brad's trained eye could take a quick look at my style and see if something is immediately at issue?

Brad, you say that your SingleHouseWithUnits style should support fractional house numbers. Is that only if I first concatenate my house number and fractional fields? If I recall, I couldn't get it to match with my fractionals before.

I have attached a Briano's style with some updates. The only difference between the style that I posted before and the style that I am attaching now is that it contains an extra field for the fractional house number. Other than that, I have just included some of the fixes that I found and that will correct the "w vs west" issue.

As for the last question, you would need the house number and fractional house number in the same fields for the other style to work.

Brad

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Brad,

For my education, can you tell me where I went astray? If you can explain things without writing a book I would appreciate knowing what I need to look out for in the future if I am modifying a style. Also, thank you for taking a look at my version of the style and taking the time to make the corrections!

Any chance this style and yours could be included in the next version of ArcGIS? It is long overdue...

It wasn't that you went astray, it was that the style that you were working with was not handling this yet. I am not too sure I can clarify without writing a book but in short, it had to do with the way the address was getting parsed at build time. I fixed that in the last style I posted.

Brad

PatrickCorley

Brian,

Do you happen to have a 9.3.1 version of this?