ERROR 000047: Could not open locator workspace

[Anonymous User]

Running ArcGIS 10 (Build ) on 64bit Windows 7. When trying to create a new locator (any) within a specific folder or a file geodatabase within that folder, I recieve the following error message: ERROR 000047: Could not open locator workspace. I noticed an archived forum post addressing the same issue from back in 2009 with no responses (http://forums.esri.com/Thread.asp?c=93&f=1113&t=284837). The Help text is not very helpful in finding a solution. Has anyone else run into this and have any ideas on what the problem is or a work around?

Thanks,
James

[AnneShort]

It could be a known issue with long connection names.  Is the direct connect string really long?

Brad

Yes it is!  I'll rename it and see if I get better results thanks.
-Annie

[AnneShort]

Unfortunately renaming my connection string didn't work. 

Two things I've noticed - anytime you add a reference featureclass it is automatically set to the default Role of Alternate Name Table rather than the Primary table.  The output address locator name it defaults to is also really long.

Brad, do you have any other things I could try, or do I need to contact tect support?

[BradNiemand]

When you add a reference featureclass to the create locator tool it uses some logic to try and determine what reference data it thinks that you are adding.  I your case you probably don't have a lot of the recognized names for the fields and therefore it thinks that it is a Alternate Name table.  Do you switch it back to Primary Table?  With regards to the output address locator, it will either use the last place that you tried to store a locator or the same place where the reference data exists.  It also appends part of the tool name to the name of the reference data so, yes it can be quite long.

Have you tried to copy your data into a FileGDB and see if you can create a locator in the FileGDB?  Maybe even try to store the locator in a Folder instead of in SDE?

Brad

[AnneShort]

It worked from a FGDB saving into a FGDB.  Is also worked from the SDE database saving to a file folder.  Any thoughts as to why I can't save it within the SDE.  It's not like I can assign SDE privledges to the database itself, I have to do that to each feature dataset.

[BradNiemand]

Once you created it in a FileGDB can you copy it into SDE?  I think it still may be related to the long name issue I mentioned before.

Are you trying to store the locator within a feature dataset?

Brad

[TroyNagle]

If your reference data is in a dataset then ArcCatalog will try to create the locator in that dataset which will give you the error you mentioned.

[SeanMoran]

If your reference data is in a dataset then ArcCatalog will try to create the locator in that dataset which will give you the error you mentioned.

I experienced similar trouble in ArcGIS 10. I believe the problem stems from creating an address locator based on a reference dataset that is located in a feature dataset. A workaround is to store your original reference dataset (or a copy) in the geodatabase, but not in a feature dataset. You can then create the address locator.

I believe this is a bug that ESRI should acknowledge and address. I should be able to create an address locator based on a centerline file that is stored in a feature dataset.

[BradNiemand]

I can't reproduce this issue on 10.0 SP2.  I have a street centerline featureClass that is stored in a featureDataset and the locator builds with no issue.  The one issue that I see most often is that, by default, the output location for the locator is within the featureDataset and that is when creation fails.  If this is not what you are seeing, I would suggest logging a call with support.

Brad

[JessiePechmann]

Got it to work!
I got this same error while building a locator from a feature dataset. I had to change the default to something I typed in for the output file. Worked then.

[MichelleBoivin]

I agree that this is unacceptable. Today I am having the exact same error trying to create an address locator as well. My centerline file is also in a network dataset in SDE (I have sysadmin rights to the server and SDE). I attempted everything mentioned within the threads; storing it outside of the dataset (which is where I want it anyway), renaming it to keep it short, etc. Nothing worked until I imported the feature class outside of the dataset so it was a stand alone feature class. There should not be any reason as to why a user needs to maintain an extremely important dataset in two places due to a bug.

For the record, I am on AGD 10.0, SP3, Windows XP, using direct connect.