how to geocode lines

[yuzheying]

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.

[yuzheying]

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.

[ModyBuchbinder]

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

[yuzheying]

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

[JoeBorgione]

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.

[yuzheying]

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

[yuzheying]

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.

[JoeBorgione]

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 

[yuzheying]

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

[JoeBorgione]

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