Roads and Mileposts - Geocoding

[RebeccaWilson]

Hello,

My original problem is that I am trying to geocode a long list of addresses which have a large portion that are listed simply as Milepost locations... some in whole number mile markers some in decimals. (Ie, Mile marker 120 and Mile Marker 5.7)

I have a Roads shapefile and a Milepost Shapefile from the DOT. The milepost data is limited - it contains mile marker name and actual mile distance for the sign. After a little work, it now also lists the highway it is connected with. These mileposts, unfortunately, don't line up exactly with the roads file spatially.

From what I read, using the linear referencing toolbox is the way to go for what I need, but I just can't seem to find any good resource that really explains what I need to do.

Any information or extra resources  or ideas outside of the linear referencing toolbox would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thank you,

Rebecca Baril

[JonathanQuinn]

The first thing you'll want to do is make sure that your route feature class, (your roads shapefile), is M enabled. 

1)  Use the Feature Class to Feature Class tool to export your roads shapefile to a new shapefile and go into the Environments > M Values and set the Output has M Values parameter to Enabled.

The next thing you'll want to do is assign m-values to the routes in your shapefile.  What I typically suggest, to make sure that the digitized direction of the line is preserved in assigning m-values, is to add and calculate two fields, a From_Field and To_Field, where the From_Field is 0 and the To_Field is the length of the line.  Then, use the Create Routes tool to create a route feature class.

2)  Open up the attribute table for the output from the first step and add a From_Field and To_Field.  Make sure that they're double or floats.
3)  Calculate a 0 for the From_Field and use the Calculate Geometry function to calculate the Length for the To_Field.
4)  Open the Create Routes tool, add your roads shapefile as the input, and choose the route identifier field, (the field that uniquely identifies each route or road).
5)  Choose an output feature class.
6)  For the measure source, use the Two Fields option, and specify the From-Measure Field and To-Measure Field you created previously.  Run the tool and the output should be added to the map.

Now, you'll have a reference system to locate the addresses in your table, so you'll want to create points from your table.

1)  Add the table to ArcMap, right click on it and go to Display Route Events.
2)  For the Route Reference, use your route feature class, and for the Route Identifier, use the field that uniquely identifies each route.
3)  For the input table, use the Route Identifier that uniquely identifies each route.
4)  Keep the default at point events, and choose the Measure field.

Your output layer will be an in-memory layer, so you'll have to export this to a feature class.  The workflow above assumes some things, like you have a route identifier field that matches between your roads feature class and table.  Also, make sure that the To-Measure field is calculated in whatever units your address points mile marker units are in.