Geocoding Address Table Example:

[MarkEnglish]

Is there an example of an input geocoding table with the format prefered by the geocoding tool?  I"ve been searching everywhere, but haven't found a table in the prefered schema.  Thanks in advance.
Mark

[BradNiemand]

What locator are you using?  Also, what version of ArcGIS are you using and can you provide some more detail to your question?  I am not too sure what you are looking for.

Brad

[MarkEnglish]

I"m sorry, I"m using ESRI basic geocoding locator, and the street layer provided by ESRI.  I geocoded 125 records, and approximately 40 didn't reference.  I'm currently investigating potential reasons why they didn't geocode properly.  Fields used were Street/City/State/Zip.  I am basically just inquiring about any document that details the 'prefered' data format for geocoding input. 

Are updated address locators/data available?

Thanks again!

[BradNiemand]

The table inputs seem fine.  Did you have any luck figuring out what the issue was with your addresses?

[MarkEnglish]

I know there are prefered data formats for geocoding input.  For instance, using Ave. versus Av., etc.  Is there any documents/templates that outline these input parameters for basic address geocoding?????

Also, how would you handle PO boxes?

[BradNiemand]

What version of ArcGIS are you using?

[AndrewDecker]

For help with reference data preparation:
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//00250000000w000000.htm

It shouldn't matter whether you use "Av" or "Ave" in your reference data until you know how your input data is going to behave once run through the locator.  The tool is plenty smart enough (based on your settings) to make the address matches.  If you know both your reference and input data are exceptional quality you can set the spelling match a little higher, if not, set it lower.

What matters is whether your input uses "Av" or "Ave" and how that will speak to the reference data.  Cleaning up the input can almost negate the purpose of geocoding.  At some point, the locator is as best dialed in as it can be and unacceptable results need qc'd.

If you use "Ave" and all your input data uses "Av", then "Ave" would not be the best practice in your situation.  As a general consideration, the postal service uses "Ave" and not "Av" and in my opinion, "Ave" is going to be the much more standard option.

for ex:
http://www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/abbr_suffix.txt

[AndrewDecker]

...best thing for a PO Box if you only have mailing addresses, is probably to build a composite locator with a zip locator in it. That is probably as close as you can come without manual research for each person/business.