topic Re: how to geocode lines in Data Management Questions

how to geocode lines

yuzheying — Tue, 31 May 2016 21:38:29 GMT

I want to geocode bike routes on the map. Now I have created an excel sheet containing information about primary road, cross intersection 1 (start point) and cross intersection 2(end point). There are about 300 records need to be geocoded, and I really don't want to draw them manually...

Attempts have been made to create route layers by using Network Analyst, but I don't have that extension available on my computer. Is there any other way to geocode lines?

I really appreciate it if someone could shed some light on this question.

Re: how to geocode lines

yuzheying — Tue, 31 May 2016 22:06:39 GMT

I also have a shapefile of all street centerlines in City of Los Angeles, it's downloaded from lacity geohub. I wonder if this file could serve as a reference when geocoding.

Re: how to geocode lines

ModyBuchbinder — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 05:20:26 GMT

Hi Yuzhe

Routes are not network. Check the tools under Linear Refrencing.

You should turn your lines into route (add the M - measurement) value and then it should work.

You do not need any extensions.

Have fun

Re: how to geocode lines

yuzheying — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 20:58:03 GMT

Hi Mody,

Thanks for your help. but I met some trouble in getting the M value. Do I have to manually measure the distance of each bike routes?

Thanks

Re: how to geocode lines

JoeBorgione — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 22:25:33 GMT

Not sure what your objective is: typically, geocoding involves turning a tabular list of addresses into a georeferenced point feature class, by matching those addresses to some sort of feature class, be it point, line or polygon, or a combination there of.

Re: how to geocode lines

yuzheying — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 22:54:35 GMT

Hi Joe,

I am new to GIS and still exploring. I am don't familiar with all the terms. But my goal is to create a polyline layer that represents bike routes. What I have in hand are a list of address and a street centerline shapefile.

Part of Excel:

Project ID	Primary Road	From	To
1	North Figueroa St.	Ave. 43	York Blvd.
2	Ave. 19	Ave. 26	Humboldt St.
3	North Figueroa St.	Ave. 22	Ave. 43
4	Pasadena Ave	Figueroa St	Ave 28

Re: how to geocode lines

yuzheying — Mon, 06 Jun 2016 23:22:35 GMT

Is there a difference between routes and lines in ArcGIS. Cause I see both "route editor" and "Editor" in ArcGIS Toolbar.

I actually don't really care about whether it's a route or a line. I just want a layer that can visually display all my bike lanes.

Re: how to geocode lines

JoeBorgione — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 14:05:20 GMT

Yes, there is a big difference between routes and lines; let's not worry about routes for now.

Here is my age old 'GIS-Perspective': some folks:

Consider GIS as a cartographic tool that happens to have a database associates with it it

while others

Consider GIS as a database management tool that happens to draw pretty pictures

Either way you need to deal with the database aspect, or nothing much is going to happen.

Each of your records shown above represent an intersection of two streets. I'm sure that quite a number of these points serve dual purposes: they are both a from and two intersection. Think about a bike lane that traverses Main St:

FROM TO

Main ST & 1st Ave Main ST & 2nd Ave

Main ST & 2nd Ave Main ST & 3rd Ave

Main ST & 3rd Ave Main St & 4th Ave

etc etc

You could geocode your intersections in this fashion. With those points you could then spatially select those streets that the geocoding results lie upon, and then clean up the stragglers to represent you bike lanes. All of these steps are database manipulations.

My suggestion is spend some time gaining some basic ESRI-GIS concepts such as What is a geodatabase?—ArcGIS Help | ArcGIS for Desktop and What is geoprocessing?—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop and Mapping and visualization in ArcGIS for Desktop—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop and What is geodata?—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop

Re: how to geocode lines

yuzheying — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 23:55:10 GMT

HI Joe,

I read your links and had a basic idea of catlog and geodata. What's the next step toward my goal?

Thanks,

Vincent

Re: how to geocode lines

JoeBorgione — Tue, 14 Jun 2016 01:50:29 GMT

I suggest you acquire a centerline feature class that you can build a geocoding locator with and geocde the intersections.

Re: how to geocode lines

yuzheying — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 18:33:35 GMT

I used LACounty CAMS address locator to geocode all my intersections. How to connect all the start and end points though?

Re: how to geocode lines

JoeBorgione — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 19:25:10 GMT

As mentioned, you will need to acquire a street centerlines feature class and perform some sort of overlay process with the points you got back from geocoding and the centerlines.

Re: how to geocode lines

RichardFairhurst — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 22:03:43 GMT

Linear Referencing creates points with two fields holding a Route ID (that uniquely references a feature class with polylines that contain Route IDs and measures or M values in the geometry) and a single measure (a station) and creates line segments with 3 fields holding a Route ID and two measures.

The Locate Features Along Route tool can determine the Route ID and measure of a point feature class that is created using geocoding and output a table containing the Route ID and measure of the point. Run this tool twice, once with the geocoded From point and once with the geocoded To point. The From and To points should already have the same Bike Lane Segment ID associated with them before doing this and there should be two points with the same bike lane segment ID. The points should also have the intersection name field.

Uncheck the match only closest route option when running the Locate Features Along Route tool when doing this, since you can select the true matches based on the street the bike lane segment is supposed to be on and export that set to eliminate false matches.

Now since the two table have the same bike lane segment ID (your From and To points), join the two tables on that ID and export the table. Now you have a single table that has a Route ID and two measures (a From Measure and a To measure) and you can use it to create a bike lane segment with the feature class that contains Route IDs and measures or M values in the geometry by using the Make Route Event Layer tool.

Re: how to geocode lines

yuzheying — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 21:18:16 GMT

Hi Richard,

this is a dope! Thanks for your time and help.

Re: how to geocode lines

yuzheying — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 23:25:35 GMT

Hi Richard,

The result come out. I tested 145 records and find 87 of them was able to be geocoded. The 87 records are geocoded accurately, but the rest of them can't be geocoded. I am trying to improve accuracy, but overall this is a very good sign.

Re: how to geocode lines

al_Dhakal — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 15:48:02 GMT

Hi,

I have a very similar problem at hand, for mapping boundaries of police beat or fire districts. As shown in the image below, I am trying to draw a polygon or at least lines for the addresses/parcels between 'From' and 'Two' and give them individual color. I can geocode them but then all I'll have are points. How do I go from geocoding points to lines or even better polygons layers? Any feedback will be greatly appreciated - Richard Fairhurst‌ and Joe Borgione‌.

Thanks,

Shital

Re: how to geocode lines

JoeBorgione — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 15:59:52 GMT

If you have an advanced license you can use create polygons from your points. See : How To: Create polygons from points in ArcGIS Pro

That said, you need to create a set of points that mark the vertices of you polygons which I guess are hidden in the table you provide. Since I don't understand what your table represents, you'll need to explain it and we can go to the next step.

Re: how to geocode lines

al_Dhakal — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 17:43:08 GMT

Thanks, Joe.

When I think of it more, a line layer is more feasible than a polygon.

Let me explain more. I am trying to create a street sweeping map so that each household knows what color zone they belong too. The table has a beginning and ending street intersections for each zone and the cross street that goes through the zone. There are no other vertices. So for the first column, I am trying to give the street segment between 150 to 2528 Cambell Ave a red color and street segment between 259 - 2522 Madigan St a green color. I have over 6000 such rows.

So in short, how do I join these street intersections to get a line layer? Thanks!

Re: how to geocode lines

JoeBorgione — Tue, 02 Jun 2020 18:06:51 GMT

Create a table of 'addresses' for each intersection and geocode them:

150 Campbell Ave
2538 Campbell Ave
219 Georgia St
2536 Georgia St
etc...

I've not done this but once you have your points you can apply this tool Points To Line—Data Management toolbox | Documentation to them to create your lines. Emphasis on I've never done it so there may be a learning curve in the actual execution of this approach.

Re: how to geocode lines

al_Dhakal — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 16:07:32 GMT

Thank you Joe but I doubt if Points to Line would be the right tool here because it would join all the points in Red Zone but in reality, there would be blocks of green and blue zone streets in between two red zones. Also, it wouldn't respect the geometry of real-life streets - they are seldom in a straight line.

I have a hunch that Linear Referencing might have the right tools for the job, need to explore more.