topic Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding? in ArcGIS API for Silverlight Questions

How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

AndySanford — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:38:49 GMT

Hi,

We want to make our product that uses the Silverlight ArcGIS API localized. We know how to set the thread culture and put resources into different resource files for our own content, but the map is of course reading streetmaps and imagery data from arcGISonline (for example http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Street_Map/MapServer and
http://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Imagery/MapServer)

1) How do we get this street and imagery data to show localized street names, city names, etc.? We already tried setting the thread's currentUICulture, as well as the browser's language setting, but neither works.

2) Same question for geocoding, but this is a little more complex maybe, because we also have to send address data to the svc, and such information formatting is locale-sensitive I would think.
We're using the Locator task with the following URL:
http://tasks.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Locators/TA_Address_NA/GeocodeServer

For example, is there a way to get that Geocoder to work in French (perhaps for folks in Montreal?)

BTW, I know that in some cases I might need to use a different geocoder URL for coverage-related reasons. For example, in europe I might need to use this URL:
http://tasks.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Locators/TA_Address_EU/GeocodeServer
But there are many different languages used by the EU!

Thanks!

Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

AndySanford — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 13:22:14 GMT

Can Esri please provide some feedback on this post? Are the 2 scenarios described supported?

Thanks a bunch!

Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

DominiqueBroux — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 15:33:40 GMT

I don't think that arcgisonline supports localized tiled services.
But with Bing maps, you can change the labels by using the Culture property of the TileLayer.

For example:

<bing:TileLayer ID="BingLayer" LayerStyle="Road" Visible="True" ServerType="Production" Culture="fr-FR"
Token="{StaticResource BingKeyString}" />

gives labels in french.

Concerning the geocoding, you have to use the appropriate geocoder which is managing the addresses for the region.
For example, this geodocer gives results for french addresses:
http://tasks.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Locators/TA_Address_EU/GeocodeServer/findAddressCandidates?Address=18+Avenue+des+Champs+Elys%C3%A9es&City=Paris&Postcode=&Country=France&outFields=&outSR=&f=html

Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

AndySanford — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 16:41:29 GMT

Hi, Dominique,

Thanks for your response!

I don't think that arcgisonline supports localized tiled services.
But with Bing maps, you can change the labels by using the Culture property of the TileLayer.
l

Okay; thanks. Too bad localization is not supported for the ESRI tile services, as that's what we have to use for now. Is there a plan/timeframe to add localization support?

Concerning the geocoding, you have to use the appropriate geocoder which is managing the addresses for the region.
For example, this geodocer gives results for french addresses:
http://tasks.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Locators/TA_Address_EU/GeocodeServer/findAddressCandidates?Address=18+Avenue+des+Champs+Elys%C3%A9es&City=Paris&Postcode=&Country=France&outFields=&outSR=&f=htm
l

Okay, but how do I get this geocoder to accept addresses written in a language other than english? For example, finding Turin, Italy works if I specify the address in English, as follows:
http://tasks.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Locators/TA_Address_EU/GeocodeServer/findAddressCandidates?Address=&City=Turin&Postcode=&Country=Italy&outFields=&outSR=&f=html

But if I speak italian, I would specify the address in italian as "Torino, Italia", as follows - which doesn't seem to work:
http://tasks.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Locators/TA_Address_EU/GeocodeServer/findAddressCandidates?Address=&City=Torino&Postcode=&Country=Italia&outFields=&outSR=&f=html

In other words, are there any geocoders that can accept addresses in languages other than English? Thanks!

Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

DominiqueBroux — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:24:58 GMT

I guess it's depending on the way the geocoder stores the addresses.

With the example you gave : http://tasks.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Locators/TA_Address_EU/GeocodeServer/findAddressCandidates?Address=&City=Turin&Postcode=&Country=Italy&outFields=&outSR=&f=html it's not really working by giving 'Turin' in English. You don't get the expected 'Torino' city in the first choices. It's better by giving 'Torino' http://tasks.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Locators/TA_Address_EU/GeocodeServer/findAddressCandidates?Address=&City=Torino&Postcode=&Country=Italy&outSR=&f=html

It looks like with this geocoder, the country is in English and then the City and StreetNames in locale.

You can verify that by looking at the output fields :
http://tasks.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/Locators/TA_Address_EU/GeocodeServer/findAddressCandidates?Address=Sebastopoli+123&City=Torino&Postcode=&Country=Italy&outFields=*&outSR=&f=html

That being said, I am not sure I helped you. I guess you would need either a geocoder storing the country in locale language or a way to translate the country names from locale to english. Sorry no clue for these points:confused:

Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

AndySanford — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 17:59:22 GMT

You're right, my Turin example was giving an address a bit off from the desired city. Yes, it seems this geocoder says it accepts the following values for country:
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisonline/content/index.html#/European_country_codes/011q0000001s000000/

I didn't see that it mentioned the language of the street/etc. fields. Do you know if these geocoders document their locale requirements anywhere?

This is very confusing, to have the different input parameters being specified in different languages. Yikes! I would have expected there was some additional parameter that specifies the input language/locale (like the bing maps example you gave.) I wouldn't think a user would want to operate in a mixed language mode; and ideally, the value of a localized geocoder would be that it understood not only the language but also the locale-specific formatting of addresses, etc.

Anyhow, thanks for your help! It looks like for now there just isn't good localization support for the tiles and geocoding.

Regards,
-Andy

Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

AndySanford — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:56:30 GMT

Hi,

Does ESRI have any answers or feedback to my last post? Writing an app that can be localized is very important to us.

Thanks!

-Andy

topic Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding? in ArcGIS API for Silverlight Questions

How to get localized street map/imagery data &amp; geocoding?

Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

Re: How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?

How to get localized street map/imagery data & geocoding?