Exercise 1: Creating an address locator

Complexity: Beginner Data Requirement: ArcGIS Tutorial Data for Desktop Data Path: c:\ArcGIS\ArcTutor\Geocoding Goal: To create an address locator

In this tutorial you'll learn how to create a new address locator.

An address locator lets you convert textual descriptions of locations into geographic features. Address locators are stored and managed in a workspace you choose. The workspace can be a file folder, file geodatabase, personal geodatabase, or ArcSDE geodatabase. The first thing you'll do is create an address locator based on your copy of the Atlanta file geodatabase.

Steps:

1. Start ArcCatalog by clicking Start > All Programs > ArcGIS > ArcCatalog 10.1.
2. Navigate to the Atlanta file geodatabase.
3. Right-click within the empty space of the Contents tab and click New > Address Locator.

   The Create Address Locator dialog box appears.

4. Click the Browse button that is next to the Address Locator Style text box to open the Select Address Locator Style dialog box.
   Choose the US Address—Dual Ranges address style and click OK.
5. Click the Browse button that is next to the Reference Data text box.

   The Reference Data dialog box appears.

6. Navigate to the Atlanta file geodatabase, choose the streets feature class, then click Add.

   You can also drag and drop the streets feature class from the workspace to the Reference Data text box in the dialog box.

7. In the Create Address Locator dialog box, click the arrow under the Role column heading and click Primary Table.
8. The Field Map section should be completed automatically. If not, choose the appropriate field in the reference data for each address locator field.

   Fields with an asterisk (*) next to their names are required by the address locator style. These fields must be mapped with valid fields in the reference data. Nonrequired fields can be left as <None> if the fields do not apply.

Next, you will set the output path for the locator.
9. Click the Browse button that is next to the Output Address Locator text box.

   The Output Address Locator dialog box appears.

10. Navigate to the Atlanta geodatabase folder, type Atlanta in the Name text box, then click Save.

    The output path is displayed in the Create Address Locator dialog box.

11. Click OK to start the process of creating the address locator.

    When the process finishes, the new address locator appears in the Atlanta file geodatabase.