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ArcGIS Pro 3.x Cookbook
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In the previous recipe, you saw how data can be in something other than a traditional GIS format. It can be a standalone table that contains X and Y coordinates, along with other information. This can then be turned into points on a map. X and Y coordinates are not the only way we can identify a location.
Another even more common way to show a location is with a postal address. This is how postal carriers know where mail needed to be delivered well before the days of global navigation satellite systems such as GPS. ArcGIS Pro can also use an address to identify a location. This is called geocoding.
Simply put, geocoding is the process of converting an address or series of addresses into a location on a map or in a GIS. In this recipe, you will learn how to geocode addresses within ArcGIS Pro. This will include determining reference data in your GIS, creating an address locator, and geocoding an Inspections spreadsheet.
In this recipe, the city manager for the city of Trippville has a spreadsheet containing all the inspections recently completed by inspectors from various departments in the city. They want you to show where these inspections occurred on a map. The spreadsheet includes the address where each inspection occurred, so you will need to geocode this data.
To complete this recipe, you will need a spreadsheet application, such as Microsoft Excel or similar, that can open a .xlsx
file. You also need to have the sample data installed. It is recommended that you complete the recipes in Chapter 1 to ensure you understand the basic terminology associated with ArcGIS Pro and how to navigate the interface. This recipe can be completed with any license level of ArcGIS Pro (Basic, Standard, or Advanced).
You will now work through the process needed to bring in data from a spreadsheet and then geocode it so that those locations will be displayed on a map:
C:\Student\ArcGISPro3Cookbook\Chapter2
.Inspections.xlsx
file and double-click on it to open it.Tip
You will need an application such as Microsoft Excel or similar installed for this to work. If you do not have Microsoft Excel or a similar application, you can download and install Open Office for free. This is an open source application that has comparable functionality with Microsoft Office. You can download it from https://www.openoffice.org/download/index.html.
Figure 2.21 – The Inspections spreadsheet open in Microsoft Excel
This spreadsheet, provided by the city manager, represents an export from a permitting and inspections system used by the city. That system cannot display data on a map, but the city manager wants to see where inspections have been completed within the city. As you can see, the spreadsheet does include the address where the inspection took place. You will use that to geocode the location of each inspection onto a map.
Follow these steps to add the spreadsheet you just examined to an ArcGIS Pro project so that you can start using that data:
Geocoding.aprx
project located in C:\Student\ArcGISPro3Cookbook\Chapter2
. Click on the Open another project button and navigate to C:\Student\ArcGISPro3Cookbook\Chapter2
. Select the desired project file (.aprx
) and click OK.Chapter2
folder.Inspections.xlsx
file and expand it so that you can see the individual sheets included in the file. Right-click on the Inspections$ sheet and select Add To Current Map, as shown in the following screenshot:Figure 2.22 – Adding a spreadsheet to the current map from the Catalog pane
You have just added the spreadsheet you examined to your map so that you can geocode it.
Before you can geocode the data in the spreadsheet, you will need to create a locator. Geocoding in ArcGIS Pro requires three components if you are using just your own data. You will need the table you want to geocode, the reference data in your GIS that contains address information, and a locator.
Reference data is typically road centerlines, address points, or parcel polygons. Address points typically provide the greatest level of accuracy. This is followed by parcel polygons. The least accurate is road centerlines.
The locator is the translator between your source data and the data you are trying to geocode. It provides basic settings and options required to geocode. Several styles of locators are dependent on your reference data and how the address information is formatted.
So, before you can create your locator, you must first identify your source data. This will be a GIS layer that already contains address information:
Trippville_GIS.gdb
geodatabase, you know that will not be your reference data. You do have parcel polygons, so right-click the Parcels
layer in the Contents pane and select Attribute Table:Figure 2.23 – Opening the Parcels layer attribute table
Parcels
layer to determine whether it contains address data. Review the field names contained in the table, along with the data itself.The Parcels
layer does include some address information. It has the street name
, street number
, and street suffix
fields. However, the data is incomplete. Also, it is missing other information that is typically included in a complete address. Therefore, the parcels
layer is not well-suited to be your reference layer. It’s time to look at the street centerlines to see whether they have more complete address information.
Parcels
layer you just reviewed.Street Centerlines
layer using the same process you did for the Parcels
layer.Street Centerlines
attribute table to see whether it includes the data needed to identify a complete address. You may need to scroll over to see the entire table.The Street Centerlines
layer does have more complete address information. It has address ranges for both the left and right sides of the road. It also has fields for the road name and type. In addition, it has fields for the ZIP code and city on the left and right sides of each road. This is enough information to create complete addresses. So, the Street Centerlines
layer is the best choice as your reference layer, even if it might not produce the most accurate data points. Now, you are ready to create your locator.
Street Centerlines
attribute table.Figure 2.24 – Accessing the Create Locator tool in the Geoprocessing pane
United States
using the drop-down arrow.Street Centerlines
using the drop-down arrow. Then set Role to Street Address
, also using the drop-down arrow. You should see Field Mapping options appear when you do this.Information
Field mapping allows you to identify which fields in the primary table you want the locator to consider when you geocode your data. Those with an asterisk (*
) before the field name are required. Those without an asterisk are not required by the locator to work but might improve your geocoding results if you have them. To learn more about the Create Locator tool, go to https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/tool-reference/geocoding/create-locator.htm.
L_F_ADD
L_T_ADD
R_F_ADD
R_T_ADD
PREFIXDIR
NAME
GEONAME_L
GEONAME_R
STATE_L
STATE_R
POSTAL_L
POSTAL_R
COUNTRY
C:\Student\ArcGISPro3Cookbook\MyProjects
.Trippville_Locator
, as shown in the following screenshot, and click Save:Figure 2.25 – Naming the new locator and creating it
English
using the drop-down arrow. Then, click the Run button.Information
If the tool completes but has warnings, you can ignore them for the sake of this recipe. In a real-world situation, you would want to investigate the warnings and determine whether they will affect your ability to use the locator successfully. If they negatively affect the use of the locator, you will need to fix the issues causing the warning. In this case, most of the issues involve street centerlines located outside the city limits for Trippville so that they do not impact the use of the locator within the city.
Now that you created the address locator, you will need to adjust some of the property settings to improve the final results when you geocode the spreadsheet of addresses:
Trippville_Locator
locator you just created and select Properties from the menu that appears.35
.Information
Side Offset is how far off the centerline the geocoding process will create a new point along the edge of the centerline. End Offset works similarly but is at the end of the line segment. Since we know most of the street rights-of-way are between 50 and 60 feet, 35 should put the point on or close to the parcel it belongs on.
Figure 2.26 – Locator Properties with adjusted settings
You are now ready to geocode the address locations shown in the spreadsheet you reviewed at the start of the recipe. This will create points in the map at the address locations:
Inspections$
table and select Geocode Table from the menu that appears, as illustrated in the following screenshot:Figure 2.27 – Selecting Geocode Table from the Contents pane
Trippville_Locator
using the drop-down arrow. Then, click Next.Inspections$
, which it should be because you right-clicked on that table to start this process.More than one field
. Then, click Next.Street
City
State
ZIP
<None>
Trippville_GIS.gdb
geodatabase in the right-hand panel of the Output window.Inspections_Geocoded
and click Save.Address location
using the drop-down arrow and set Output fields to All
. Then, click Next.Address
by clicking the checkbox. Then, click Finish. This might be listed as Step 5 of 5 at the bottom of the tool. This isn’t a cause for concern.Figure 2.28 – The Geocode Table tool with completed parameters
When the tool completes, a new window will appear showing you the results. Luckily, you don’t have any unmatched locations. A new layer should appear on your map showing the results of your geocoding efforts.
Inspections_Geocoded
layer and select Zoom to Layer. Your map should look similar to the following:Figure 2.29 – Map zoomed into the geocoding results
Inspections_Geocoded
layer. Examine the table to see what fields and data it contains.When you examine the attribute table, you should recognize several of the fields as coming from the Inspections$
table you geocoded. You will also see several fields that were created by the geocoding process. This includes Status
, Score
, Match_type
, and many more. The Status
, Score
, and Match_type
values are calculated from the Geocode Table tool. The Status
field will contain one of three values – M = Match, T = Tie, or U = Unmatched. The Score
field indicates how well the address in the input table (Inspections$
) matched the reference data (Street Centerlines
) used by the locator. It will be between 1 and 100, with 100 being a perfect match. Match_type
is how the location was geocoded. A is automatic and M is manual.
You have successfully geocoded the data in an Excel spreadsheet so that it is displayed on a map.
In this recipe, you geocoded a spreadsheet of inspections that had been exported from a permitting and inspections system that was external to your GIS. To do this, you had to determine a reference layer. This reference layer was a GIS layer that contained address data. You examined the Parcels
and Street Centerline
layers to determine which one would be the best reference layer. You determined that the Street Centerlines
layer was best due to the completeness of the address information.
Then, you created a new locator that allowed you to use the centerlines for reference. You used the Create Locator geoprocessing tool found in the Geocoding Tools toolbox to do this.
Once the locator was created, you were able to geocode the Inspections spreadsheet. This created a new point layer in your map showing the locations of the inspections.
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