Module 5: Adding XY Data and Geocoding Addresses

This week's module was focused on the process of geocoding and adding point feature data from a data table with a spatial component (i.e. coordinates or street address). 

Part 1: Adding XY data

Part one included adding coordinate data from a table. The following coordinates were taken from available Bald Eagle nest location data for Santa Rosa county: 

LATITUDE	LONGITUDE
30°33’50”N	87°08’33”W
30°31’43”N	87°06’59”W
30°31’02”N	87°05’54”W

These coordinates are written in Degrees, Minutes, Seconds format. In order to plot these points with ArcGIS, the coordinates were converted to Decimal Degrees format with the following formulas:

ycoord = (latDD + (latMM/60) + (latSS/3600))

xcoord = - (longDD + (longMM/60) + (longSS/3600)) (Note the negative)

The conversion was completed using Microsoft Excel, saved as a .csv file, and then added to ArcGIS Pro. Finally, the "Add XY Point Data" tool was used to create points based on the tables x (longitude) and y (latitude) coordinates. See below for a final screenshot of the point features created for the three bald eagle nests. 

Part 2: Geocoding Addresses

The second part of module was focused on geocoding school addresses within Manatee County. The final geocoded location map was then saved onto ArcGIS Online. A link to the online map can be found here:  

https://pns.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=6525a538c81c457898d102fe866fae21

Data: 

Table data were downloaded from the Florida Department of Education website. These raw data needed to be formatted before geocoding, so these data were cleaned up using Microsoft excel. Each column was formatted to only contain a single attribute (i.e. city, zip code, phone number, etc.) and each row represented a different school. One useful tip used to sort data is to assign each row a number, either 1 or -1, and then utilizing the data soring feature to sort by the count number assigned to it. I think this tip will be very useful when sorting through a large data table instead of trying to copy and paste by hand into a different columns. The street addresses were also broken up using the comma-delineated, "Text to Column" data feature on Microsoft Excel, which brought each word into a new column based on the location of the comma in the street addresses. For example, 123 West Lake St, Orlando, FL would be separated into three columns for the street address, city, and state. Then, similar to part 1, the excel file was saved as a .csv file and uploaded to ArcGIS Pro. This data table could not be plotted using the "Add XY Point Data" tool because the table did not include x and y coordinate information. The CREATE ADDRESS LOCATOR tool was used to set up what table fields would be used to plot the points, (i.e. street address and zip code columns). Then, the table was geocoded by right clicking on the layer in the contents pan and selecting "Geocode Table." 

My Thoughts: 

One thing I noticed while using this tool is that ArcGIS will not always have an exact address and will assign the point to the closest known location, which may or may not be close to the exact school location. These locations with errors had to be plotted by hand by looking up the address and zooming in on the map to the school. Also, most of the time spent geocoding or adding XY data went toward cleaning up/formatting the table data. This shows that data formatting is essential while geocoding. A street that is misspelled or missing data could result in an incorrect geocoding output and many table data inconsistencies could be time consuming to geocode.