How to create address locators

Summary When geocoding, before you can locate an address, you must create an address locator.

Development licensing Deployment licensing
Engine Developer Kit Engine Runtime
ArcView ArcView
ArcEditor ArcEditor
ArcInfo ArcInfo

Creating address locators

There are a few ways to create an address locator. In most cases, it is recommended that you use the geoprocessing tool. However, you can also create one using the underlying ArcObjects.
 
Using the geoprocessing tool
Usually, the recommended way to create an address locator is to use the CreateAddressLocator geoprocessing tool located in the Geocoding toolbox.

[Java] 
String dataGDB = 
    "C:/Program Files/ArcGIS/DeveloperKit/SamplesNET/data/Atlanta.gdb";
String featureclass = "streets";
//Put quotes around the path name so that it works with spaces.
String referenceData = "\"" + dataGDB + "\\" + featureclass + "\" 'Primary
    table'";
String locatorName = "Street Locator";
String addressLocatorStyle = "US Streets";

// The field mapping syntax is "'What geocoding needs' NAME_OF_FIELD_IN_DATASET;"
String fieldMapping = "'House From Left' L_F_ADD;" + "'House To Left' L_T_ADD;"
    + "'House From Right' R_F_ADD;" + "'House To Right' R_T_ADD;" + 
    "'Prefix Direction' PREFIX;" + "'Prefix Type' PRE_TYPE;" + 
    "'Street Name' NAME;" + "'Street Type' TYPE;" + "'Suffix Direction' SUFFIX";

GeoProcessor gp = new GeoProcessor();
CreateAddressLocator addressLocatorGPTool = new CreateAddressLocator
    (addressLocatorStyle, referenceData, fieldMapping, dataGDB + "\\" +
    locatorName);
gp.execute(addressLocatorGPTool, null);
 
Using the underlying ArcObjects
ESRIFDOAddressLocator—The following code illustrates how to use the locator workspace, address locator style, and address locator reference data objects to create a new ESRIFDOAddressLocator.
 

[Java] 
// Open the default local locator workspace to get the locator style.
ILocatorManager2 locatorManager = new LocatorManager();
ILocatorWorkspace locatorWorkspace = locatorManager.getLocatorWorkspaceFromPath
    ("");

// Get the locator style to base the new locator.
ILocatorStyle locatorStyle = locatorWorkspace.getLocatorStyle(
    "US Streets with Zone");

// Open the feature class to use as reference data.
IWorkspaceFactory2 factory = new AccessWorkspaceFactory();
IFeatureWorkspace featureWorkspace = new IFeatureWorkspaceProxy
    (factory.openFromFile("D:\\workspace\\arcobjects\\location\\redlands.mdb",
    0));
IDataset pDataset = new IDatasetProxy(featureWorkspace.openFeatureClass(
    "Streets"));

// Set the feature class as the primary reference data table for the locator.
IReferenceDataTables dataTables = (IReferenceDataTables)locatorStyle;
IEnumReferenceDataTable enumDataTables = dataTables.getTables();
enumDataTables.reset();
IReferenceDataTableEdit dataTableEdit = (IReferenceDataTableEdit)
    enumDataTables.next();
dataTableEdit.setNameByRef(new ITableNameProxy(pDataset.getFullName()));

// Store the new locator in the same workspace as the reference data.
if (dataTables.isHasEnoughInfo())
{
    locatorWorkspace = locatorManager.getLocatorWorkspaceFromPath(
        "D:\\workspace\\arcobjects\\location\\redlands.mdb");
    ILocator locator = locatorWorkspace.addLocator("New Redlands Locator", new
        ILocatorProxy(locatorStyle), "", null);
}
ArcSDE Locator—The following code illustrates how to use the locator workspace and address locator style objects to create a new ArcSDE locator.
 

[Java] 
// Open an ArcSDE workspace.
IPropertySet connectionProps = new PropertySet();
connectionProps.setProperty("server", "mendota");
connectionProps.setProperty("instance", "esri_sde");
connectionProps.setProperty("database", "arcobjects");
connectionProps.setProperty("user", "sde");
connectionProps.setProperty("password", "sde");
connectionProps.setProperty("version", "SDE.Default");

IWorkspaceFactory factory = new SdeWorkspaceFactory();
IWorkspace workspace = factory.open(connectionProps, 0);

//Open the database locator workspace for the ArcSDE workspace.
ILocatorManager locatorManager = new LocatorManager();
ILocatorWorkspace locatorWorkspace = locatorManager.getLocatorWorkspace
    (workspace);


// Get the U.S. streets locator style.
ILocatorStyle locatorStyle = locatorWorkspace.getLocatorStyle("SDE.US Streets");

// Open the feature workspace containing the reference data.
// Set the reference data on the new locator.
IDataset dataset = new IDatasetProxy(new IFeatureWorkspaceProxy(workspace)
    .openFeatureClass("sde.SDE.altanta_st"));
IReferenceDataTables dataTables = (IReferenceDataTables)locatorStyle;
IEnumReferenceDataTable enumDataTables = dataTables.getTables();
enumDataTables.reset();
IReferenceDataTableEdit dataTableEdit = (IReferenceDataTableEdit)
    enumDataTables.next();
dataTableEdit.setNameByRef(new ITableNameProxy(dataset.getFullName()));

// Store the locator if the reference data is properly specified.
if (dataTables.isHasEnoughInfo())
{
    ILocator locator = locatorWorkspace.addLocator("My New SDE Locator", new
        ILocatorProxy(locatorStyle), "", null);
}