Working with address locators and geocoding

An address locator is a dataset in the geodatabase that's used to manage address information for features so you can perform geocoding. Geocoding is a process used to match a single address or a table of addresses against the address locator. A geocoded location is returned for each matched address.

Learn more about geocoding

Learn more about the geocoding process

Common geocoding tasks

There are several common tasks that you may need to perform when geocoding. The following list should help you find the information you need to complete those tasks.

Build or maintain reference data

If you would like to	Refer to
Choose appropriate reference data	Understanding address locator styles Commonly used address locator styles
Prepare reference data	Preparing reference and address data

Common tasks when building or maintaining reference data

Determine address locator style

If you would like to	Refer to
Choose an address locator style	Commonly used address locator styles Understanding address locator styles

Common tasks when determining your address locator style

Build an address locator

If you would like to	Refer to
Build an address locator	Creating an address locator
Build a composite address locator	Creating a composite address locator

Common tasks when building an address locator

Locate addresses

If you would like to	Refer to
Prepare addresses for geocoding	Preparing reference and address data
Add and remove address locators from an ArcMap document	Managing address locators in ArcMap
Geocode a single address	Finding an address
Geocode a table of addresses	Geocoding a table of addresses
Review and modify geocoding results	Rematching a geocoded feature class
Get an address from a location	Getting an address from a location

Common tasks when locating addresses

Publish and maintain the address locator

If you would like to	Refer to
Share or publish your address locators	Distributing an address locator Publishing an address locator
Rebuild the address locator	Rebuilding address locators in ArcCatalog
Modify the address locator settings	Modifying an address locator's settings

Common tasks when publishing and maintaining address locators