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Reverse Geocode (Geocoding Tools)

Summary

Creates addresses from point locations in a feature class. The reverse geocoding process searches for the nearest address, place, or intersection for the point location based on optimized distance values for locators created with the Create Locator tool.

Performing geocoding operations using the ArcGIS World Geocoding Service requires an ArcGIS organizational account, and it consumes credits. The organizational account must have enough credits to complete the entire geocoding request.

Note:

Credit estimation is available at the top of the tool when the active portal is ArcGIS Online and the input locator is the ArcGIS World Geocoding Service.

Usage

  • The input feature class must contain point shapes with valid x,y coordinates. Results will not be returned on points with null coordinates.

  • The output feature class will contain the same number of records as in the input feature class. Additional fields containing the result addresses or places are added to the feature class. The names of the fields are prefixed with REV_. If a matching place or address cannot be found, the fields will contain NULL values.

  • If the spatial reference of the input feature class is different from that of the locator, the locator will transform the coordinates on the fly and try to find the match. The output feature class will be saved in the same spatial reference as the input feature class. To change the spatial reference of the output feature class, set the Output Coordinate System environment.

  • If a point in the input feature class fails to return a matching place or address, it means there are no features in the locator that can be associated with the input point. The following are common causes for unmatched points:

    • The point contains null coordinates.

    • The point's coordinates are incorrect and cannot be transformed to the spatial reference used in the locator.

    • The locator does not contain reference features in the area that can be associated with the point.

    • A feature type was specified for which there are no good matches within a reasonable distance. See Feature type match conditions for details.

  • When a reverse distance is specified in the locator properties, it overrides the optimized hierarchical distance values used based on the roles supported by the locator.

  • An ArcGIS Online for organizations subscription is required to reverse geocode a feature class using the ArcGIS World Geocoding Service.

  • When using an input locator built with z-aware data , the tool will return output that is not z-aware. Only 2D output is supported in this tool.

Parameters

Label Explanation Data type

Input Feature Class or layer

A point feature class or layer from which matching places or addresses will be returned based on the features' point location.

Feature Layer

Input Address Locator

The locator that will be used to reverse geocode the input feature class or layer.

Address Locator

Output Feature Class

The output feature class.

Note:

Saving the output to shapefile format is not supported due to shapefile limitations.

Feature Class

Output Address Type

(Optional)
Legacy:

This parameter is deprecated and maintained only for backward compatibility. By default, the feature types supported by the locator will be used.

String

Search Distance

(Optional)
Legacy:

This parameter is deprecated and maintained only for backward compatibility. By default, optimized hierarchical distance values will be used based on the roles supported by the locator and cannot be overridden.

Linear Unit

Feature Type

(Optional)

Specifies the possible match types that will be returned. A single value or multiple values can be specified. If a single value is specified, the search tolerance for the input feature type will be 500 meters. If multiple values are included, the default search distances specified in the feature type hierarchy table will be applied. See Feature types for details about using this parameter for reverse geocoding.

This parameter is not supported for all locators.

  • Subaddress—The match will be limited to a street address based on points that represent house and building subaddress locations. This option requires a locator created in ArcGIS Pro 2.8 or later and ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9 or later if published as a service.

  • Point Address—The match will be limited to a street address based on points that represent house and building locations.

  • Parcel—The match will be limited to a plot of land that is considered real property and can include one or more homes or other structures. This option typically has an address and a parcel identification number assigned to it. This option is only supported by custom locators built with the Parcel role; it is not supported by the ArcGIS World Geocoding Service or ArcGIS StreetMap Premium locators.

  • Street Address—The match will be limited to a street address that differs from Point Address because the house number is interpolated from a range of numbers. Street Address matches include the house number range for the matching street segment rather than the interpolated house number value.

  • Street Intersection—The match will be limited to a street address consisting of a street intersection along with city and optional state and postal code information. This is derived from Street Address reference data, for example, Redlands Blvd & New York St, Redlands, CA, 92373.

  • Street Name—The match will be limited to a street address similar to Street Address but without house numbers along with administrative divisions and optional postal code, for example, W Olive Ave, Redlands, CA, 92373.

  • Locality—The match will be limited to a place-name representing a populated place.

  • Postal—The match will be limited to a postal code. Reference data is postal code points, for example, 90210 USA.

  • Point of Interest—The match will be limited to a point of interest. Reference data consists of administrative division place-names, businesses, landmarks, and geographic features, for example, Starbucks.

  • Distance Marker—The match will be limited to a street address that represents the linear distance along a street, typically in kilometers or miles, from a designated origin location, for example, Mile 25 I-5 N, San Diego, CA.

String

Preferred Location Type

(Optional)

Specifies the preferred output geometry that will be returned for PointAddress matches. If the preferred location does not exist in the data, the default location of Address location will be returned. See the ArcGIS REST API web help for details about the locationType parameter for geocodeAddresses.

  • Address location—Geometry for geocode results that represent an address location such as a rooftop location, parcel centroid, or front door will be returned. This is the default.

  • Routing location—Geometry for geocode results that represent a location close to the side of the street that can be used for vehicle routing will be returned.

String

Environments

Output Coordinate System

Licensing information

  • Basic: Yes
  • Standard: Yes
  • Advanced: Yes