HOW TO

Add the World Geocoding Service to the list of default locators in ArcGIS Version 10.0

Last Published: July 21, 2023

Summary

The following process provides the steps necessary to remove the deprecated ArcGIS Locators and add the new World Geocoding Service to the default locators XML file. This can be useful if ArcGIS Desktop 10.0 is being used and it is desirable to use the World Geocoding Service for single address search on the Geocoding toolbar.

Procedure

Follow these steps to remove the deprecated ArcGIS 10.0 locators and add the World Geocoding Service to the list of default locators:

  1. Navigate to the ArcGIS installation directory for ArcGIS Desktop and open the Locators folder. For example:
 C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0\Locators
  1. Make a copy of the DefaultLocators.xml file as a back up.
  2. Edit the original DefaultLocators.xml with an XML editor, such as Notepad, and remove the references to ArcGIS 10 Online and 9.3.1 locators and the MGRS locator (typically the bottom sections of the document around lines 77 – 286).
  3. Add the following to the bottom section of the document where the older references were removed:
<!-- ArcGIS Online World geocode service --> 
<locator_ref> 
<name>World</name> 
<display_name>World Geocode Service (ArcGIS Online)</display_name> 
<workspace_properties> 
<factory_progid>esriGISClient.AGSServerConnectionFactory</factory_progid> 
<ags_connection_properties> 
<url>http://geocode.arcgis.com/arcgis/services</url> 
</ags_connection_properties> 
</workspace_properties> 
</locator_ref> 

<!-- MGRS locator --> 
<locator_ref> 
<name>MGRS</name> 
<display_name>MGRS (Military Grid Reference System)</display_name> 
<workspace_properties> 
<path></path> 
</workspace_properties> 
</locator_ref> 

</default_locators>
  1. Save and close the XML document.
Note:
Since the new file no longer includes references to the old online locators, and has the reference to the World Geocoding service, ArcGIS should now connect to the World Geocoding service rather than the old version 10 services.

Alternate method

Alternatively, an updated copy of the "DefaultLocators.xml" may downloaded and extracted from the link below and used to replace the existing DefaultLocators.xml.

Follow these steps to replace the DefaultLocators.xml that includes deprecated ArcGIS 10.0 locators with a DefaultLocators.xml that includes the World Geocoding Service instead:

  1. Download the DefaultLocators.zip file from the Related Information section below, and extract the DefaultLocators.xml file.
Note:
This XML document has already been modified to remove references to the deprecated online locators and add the reference to the World Geocoding service.
  1. Browse to the ArcGIS installation directory for Desktop and open the Locators folder. For example:
C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0
  1. Make a backup copy of the DefaultLocators.xml file in case it is necessary to return to the default behavior in the future.
  2. Copy the new DefaultLocators.xml file to the Locators folder.

Article ID:000012048

Software:
  • ArcMap

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