Add a custom highway to the address locator style

Summary

The instructions provided describe how to modify the 'US Address' address locator style and add a custom highway to the PREFIX_TYPE section of the grammar. This is useful for abbreviating the names of state routes, highways, or non-standard highways used when searching for an address.

The new prefix type abbreviation for the highway can be used in the reference data for the PreType or PREFIX_TYPE fields, and the highway number can be represented in the STREET_NAME field if both address components in the street name field are not maintained.

Procedure

Warning:
Before modifying the file, make a copy of the USAddress.lot.xml and ensure the user has 'write' permissions for the Locators folder where the address locator templates are stored.

Note:
Due to Windows Dynamic Access Control settings, it may be necessary to copy the USAddress.lot.xml file to a different folder for editing and copy the file back to the original location when finished. Notepad++ is an example of a text editor that can be used to modify the XML file.

1. Open the USAddress.lot.xml in a text or XML editor. The file is found in the following location:

C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.x\Locators

Note:
Substitute the 'x' in the address above to match the installed version of ArcMap. For example, if version 10.4.1 is in use, replace 'x' with '4'.
The path for ArcGIS Pro is: C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\Pro\Resources\Locators

2. Navigate to '...Prefix types and their aliases', and add the following changes in alphabetical order.

<def name="_BIA" is_alias_list="true"> 
   <alt>Bureau of Indian Affairs</alt> 
   <alt>BIA</alt> 
</def> 
<def name="_BIAhwy" is_alias_list="true"> 
   <alt> 
     <elt ref="_BIA"/> 
     <elt ref="_hwy/> 
   </alt> 
   <alt>BIAHY</alt> 
   <alt>BIA HWY</alt> 
</def> 

Note:
 A convention used in the locator style file is to precede tag reference names with an underscore.

3. Navigate to the 'pre_type_no_sthwy' definition section, and add the following to the existing list in alphabetical order.

<alt ref="_BIA"/> 
<alt ref="_BIAhwy"/> 

4. Navigate to the "pre_type_sthwy" definition section, and add the following to the existing list in alphabetical order.

<alt ref="_BIA"/> 
<alt ref="_BIAhwy"/> 

5. Save the changes.
6. Create a new address locator.