ArcGIS

ArcGIS Online Geocoding

This brief tutorial will walk you through the popular analysis tool called "geocoding". Geocoding matches a set of addresses with a pre-existing address database to assign geographic coordinates to your locations. 

Geocoding consumes ‘credits’ in the Esri ecosystem. As a user at Brock University (or other ‘organization’ with a site license) you will be allocated a limited number of credits. Brock University affiliates should contact maplib@brocku.ca before attempting to geocode a table with more than 1000 records.

More details about credits can be found here.

Setup Instructions

In preparation for this tutorial, you will need an organizational account. As a Brock University affiliate, you already have such an account. The first part of the tutorial will outline steps for accessing the software using your Brock credentials. Video instructions.

1. Download the Excel file used in this tutorial. Niagara Sports Facilities acquired from https://niagaraopendata.ca/dataset/niagara-sports-clubs-facilities.

2. Go to https://arcgis.com and sign in as per the instructions above.

NOTE: Geocoding in ArcGIS Online is limited to users with an organizational account.

3. Click the Map option at the top of the screen.

This software as a service is constantly being updated. At the time of writing, the simplest way to plot points is to Add layer from file. Follow these steps:

4. Click the little arrow beside the Add button 
5. Select the option to Add Layer From File.
6. Click 
7. Browse to your downloaded sports facilities table, select the csv and click Open. You will be taken through a series of prompts.
8. Select Create a hosted feature layer and add it to the map. Click Next.
9. This prompt allows you to identify the fields to include with the hosted feature layer. Accept the defaults and click Next.
10. From the location settings, change the default selection to Addresses or place names

11. Scroll down a bit and change the option for Location Fields. .
12. Scroll down to see how the software is matching the fields. You will need to select the field for Postal Code.
13. Scrolling down a little further will reveal approximately how many credits will be used to geocode the table.

13. Click Next. This page offers the option to change the layer name, storage location in ArcGIS Online and to add Tags (keywords) and a Summary.

14. Click . The results show the location of sports facilities across the Niagara Region.