topic Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

JustinMartinek — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 15:34:11 GMT

Is there any up-to-date guidance in customizing ArcGIS Pro locator definitions similar to how ArcGIS 10 had the attached technical paper for customizing locator definitions?

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

ShanaBritt — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 07:22:03 GMT

@JustinMartinek Is there something that is not working with the locators you create with the Create Locator tool in ArcGIS Pro that requires customization?

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

HXiao — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 21:14:27 GMT

We have the same question. Our reference data can not match any of the existing locator role in ArcGIS Pro. We had to customize the locator style in ArcMap to build a locator against the data. We're wondering how to customize the locator role in ArcGIS Pro. Does anybody have an idea? Thanks.

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

JustinMartinek — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 12:29:06 GMT

Unfortunately, the guidance I received was to use a database view to fit the data that was broken up into one of the existing definitions. This article describes the process.

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

ShanaBritt — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 17:43:27 GMT

@HXiao Locator roles cannot be customized in ArcGIS Pro. What type of customizations do you make to the address locator style in ArcMap that is missing from locators created with the Create Locator tool in ArcGIS Pro?

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

BryanLynn1 — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 18:02:37 GMT

We have parcel ids that have 2 spaces in the the middle of the id. For instance 001 001. The locators are trimming the multiple spaces to a single space and causing problems downstream. Since we can't modify the locator rules to account for this situation, how do we handle it? Or is there a locator style that already has support for multiple blank spaces?

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

ShanaBritt — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 19:04:35 GMT

Bryan:

What you described sounds like something we would want to investigate. What version of ArcGIS Pro are you using? I would suggest opening a ticket with Support. Do you get the same behavior if you use the POI role and map the parcel id or PIN to the Place Name role field? Do you get the same behavior if you use the Create Feature Locator tool to build the locator for the parcel id?

-Shana

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

BryanLynn1 — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 20:17:43 GMT

Thanks for the suggestions Shana. Unfortunately, both the POI role and the Feature Locator did the same thing and stripped out one of the spaces. I will open a support ticket.

I am using ArcGIS Pro 3.0.2

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

ShanaBritt — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 23:00:19 GMT

Bryan,

Thanks for the update. I did try to replicate what you described and was not able to in Pro 3.0.2. If you could provide a sample of your data, perhaps just the parcel id or the parcel id and the fields you mapped to create the locator. Are you batch geocoding when you run into this problem or search in the Locate pane?

-Shana

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

HelenZhou — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 18:28:03 GMT

@ShanaBritt I have similar request about customizing the locator role with the new "Create Locator" tool.

We used to use Create Address locator to create a locator and publish it as geocoding service in ArcGIS server 10.8.1. Now we are migrating to use Create locator in ArcGIS Pro 3.0 to create locator.

We were able to modify "US single house address" to a customized locator style so that the output candidate field name can be modified - for example from default StName to Streetname.

In ArcGIS Pro 3.0.2 using Create Locator tool, it looks like we can no longer create a customized role to implement this customization. Is this the case for this new tool?

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

ShanaBritt — Tue, 22 Nov 2022 01:23:47 GMT

@HelenZhou

Customizations to the locator roles and the default output fields are not supported for the Create Locator tool.

However, the Create Locator tool allows you to add up to 50 custom output fields that are returned in the geocode results. You could add the field names that you want returned like Streetname and assign the field from your data to the custom field that is listed in the Field Map section of the tool. In the locator properties Output fields page you can uncheck all of the fields you do not want returned in the output. When ArcGIS Pro 3.1 is released the Geocode Addresses tool will have an option that returns the minimal fields plus the custom user fields that were added when the locator was built. See step 9 in https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/data/geocoding/create-a-locator.htm.

Outside of the output field names, is there anything else you customized in the classic locator for your workflow that you are unsure is possible with the Create Locator tool?

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

HelenZhou — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 16:05:52 GMT

Thanks @ShanaBritt . That is exactly what I want. Thanks so much for providing this workaround. Actually I have already used the custom output fields in my locator. I don't realize that we can have up to 50 of them. That is really useful. I am looking forward to the Pro 3.1 which can remove some unnecessary output fields.

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

MichaelVolz — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 02:22:49 GMT

Shana:

If my input data has street suffix (Road Thoroughfare Type) as La but the Create Locator default (standard) is Ln, do I have the ability to modify (customize) the Create Locator to recognize that La is equivalent to Ln in geocode scoring?

I was able to do this in the past with previous address locators.

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

ShanaBritt — Mon, 06 Feb 2023 16:50:24 GMT

@MichaelVolz You do not have the ability to make a modification to the street suffix types as you did with the classic locators, however you could use an alternate street name table that contains 'La' for the street suffix type for the street name. I would suggest submitting an enhancement request through Support to get this added for evaluation for a future release of ArcGIS Pro. If there are any other enhancement or improvements you would like to see with the new locators, please submit them so that the Geocoding Development team can evaluate them or offer workarounds. I'm curious about your data as well, was it created in-house or purchased from a data vendor?

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

MichaelVolz — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 12:48:46 GMT

Hi Shana:

I investigated your proposed solution which would not work without an enormous amount of work and create a maintenance issue when new address points are added to address point layer that is the source of the address locator. Currently the Create Address Locator has an xml file that can handle converting input street suffix type from La, Ln, Lan, Lne, and Lane to La so they have equivalent match score.

In order to replicate this behavior in Create Locator I would need an alternate name table to have all 5 suffix types for all address points that have La as their current street suffix type.

This same setup would need to be applied to other address points as well with different street suffix types (e.g. Rd should be converted from Rd, Road; Bl should be converted from Bl, Blvd, Boulevard; etc). The alternate name table for this locator would be unwieldly and new roads added that have address points associated with it would need all the alternate names added for each new point.

Re: Customizing Locator definitions in ArcGIS Pro

ShanaBritt — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 07:05:13 GMT

@MichaelVolz As far as the alternate name table I would create a StreetNameID field in the primary reference data and give each record/feature with the same street name the same ID, so if you have 10 'E Orange Lane' features they will get the same ID. Then in the alternate street name table you would have a StreetNameID field and record1 for 'E Orange La' would get the same ID as the 10 features in the primary data layer. Then record2 for 'E Orange Lan' would get the same ID as the 10 features in the primary data layer. You data would have a Many (primary)-to-Many (alternate table) relationship and look similar to the image below.

The most common and I believe the USPS street types are already included in the geocoding rules and any abbreviation you have that is not working by default should go in the alternate name table. Then the Preferred Street Name settings in the locator properties you can specify which street name will be returned.