About Microsoft Bing Search

Business Analyst provides access to the Microsoft Bing Search functionality by embedding the search tool within the Business Analyst toolbar. Results are returned from an Internet service to your map in the data format you set (shapefile, geodatabase, and so forth).

The business point information varies by country, but it is a combination of Yellow Pages entries from providers, Web crawls, and business owner submitted information. The data is updated daily.

The Bing search component in Business Analyst creates a feature layer from the Bing service response by copying the response info into a new ArcGIS feature class.

Here is the list of resulting Bing layer fields and descriptions of each Bing response property:

• ID—String representing the ID of the search result.
• Name—A string containing the listing title of the search result.
• Address—A string containing the complete address.
• Latitude—A double specifying the latitude of a single point on the globe.
• Altitude—A double specifying the altitude of a single point on the globe.
• Calculation Method—A string indicating the geocode method that was used to match the location to the map. The following table lists possible values for this property:

  Value	Description
  Interpolation	The geocode service matched the location to a point on a road using interpolation.
  Parcel	The geocode service matched the location to the center of a parcel.
  Rooftop	The geocode service matched the location to the rooftop of a building.

• Match Code 1 to Match Code N—Fields that indicate the geocoding level of the location match. The table below lists possible values for these fields:

  Value	Description
  None	No match was found by the geocode service.
  Good	The geocode service found a single match.
  Ambiguous	The geocode service returned more than one possible match. For example, the street address for the entity is 128 Main St. and the geocode service returns matches for 128 North Main St. and 128 South Main St. because there is no way to determine which is desired.
  UpHierarchy	The geocode service was unable to match all the information and had to move up the geographic hierarchy to find a less precise result. For example, a match code of UpHierarchy is returned if the geocode service cannot match the address fields for the entity and returns a match at the postal code level.
  Modified	The geocode service found a match, but only if the match is modified.

• From Category 1 to Category 4—Four fields represent a point of interest category, such as restaurant, hotel, or gas station.
• From Category 1 Id to Category 4 Id—Four fields for ID of interest category.
• From Neighborhood 1 to Neighborhood 5—Fields represent the neighborhoods where the business is found.
• Phone Number—A string containing the phone number of the business.
• Rating Count—An integer indicating the number of users that rated the business.
• Review Count—An integer indicating the number of reviews written about the business.
• User Rating—A double indicating the average user rating given to the business.
• Description—A string containing the description.
• Website—A string containing the business' Web site.

Tipp:

Up to 250 locations can be returned during one search session; however, due to duplicate entries in servers, only 80–100 points may be returned at one time.

Tipp:

If you enter an area into the search box, Bing will zoom to that area's boundary and return locations outward from the boundary center. For example, if you type Pizza in Redlands, Bing will zoom to Redlands, California, and return pizza-related locations starting at the boundary center and moving outward.

Tipp:

If you don't enter an area into the search box, Bing will begin at the current analysis extent and return locations outward from the current boundary center. For example, if you type Pizza, Bing will find the overall boundary center of the current view or extent and return pizza-related locations starting at the current boundary center and moving outward.

Tipp:

When you filter search records, only those shown in the filter view are added to the map. You don't have to deselect the records you don't want to download. For example, you can type Pizza to return all pizza locations. Then in the filter dialog box you can type Steve's Pizza Place to only show Steve's Pizza Place locations. Click Next to add only these locations to the map.

Tipp:

If multiple locations are found with a similar name (for example, Redlands, CA; Redlands, CO) all possible entries are listed. Only one location can be retrieved at a time.

Tipp:

Turn the Bing Search tool on or off from the Business Analyst Preferences > Misc tab.

Tipp:

The Bing service can geocode one street address at a time. For example, you can enter 912 Pacific Ave, Dallas, TX, and a point will be returned on the map. You can also search for places like St. Louis, MO.