Modifying address locator settings using arcpy

Question

In ArcGIS 10.1 is there anyway to modify address locator properties using arcpy?  Specifically, I want to modify the side offset of address locators with a python script rather than manually making the change in the locator properties box after creating the locator (which messes up the entire workflow because it requires a manual edit halfway through the geocoding process).

Thanks,
Alex

KDeVogelaere · Answer

Take a look at this approach, I am attempting the same solution in our Python script- locator_fn = 'my_address_locator.loc'
locator_file = open(locator_fn,'a') # open for appending
locator_file.writelines('MinimumCandidateScore = 70') locator_file.writelines('SpellingSensitivity = 70') locator_file.writelines('MinimumMatchScore = 70')
locator_file.close() Locator Properties: * MinimumCandidateScore * SideOffsetUnits * SpellingSensitivity * MinimumMatchScore * EndOffset * IntersectionConnectors * MatchIfScoresTie * SideOffset * SuggestedBatchSize * WriteXYCoordFields * WriteStandardizedAddressField * WriteReferenceIDField * WritePercentAlongField

TannerSemerad · Answer

I agree. There needs to be some way to automate this. At the very least there should be some sort of xml template you can feed to the Create Address Locator tool.

I'm creating a data processing model for a customer who will run the model whenever they need to update their data in the custom ArcEngine software they bought from us. We've automated the entire process for them to make it as painless as possible, except after the model is completed they will still need to manually set up the Address Locator. This is very frustrating, as we promised to deliver a set of tools that will process their data so it works for our software. Will this be addressed in 10.2?

RoyceVerboom1 · Answer

It would be pretty handy to be able to edit the properties of a locator using arcpy. It would also help to be able to manage that during the creation process of the locator in a python script.