How To: Create a .Locb File in ArcMap

Summary

When an address locator is saved in a file folder, three files are created. The files are prefixed with the locator name and contain the following file extensions:

.loc: Contains the general information of the locator
.loc.xml: Contains the metadata, parsing syntax, and parameters for the specified properties of the locator
.lox: Contains the attributes and indexes of the reference data

A composite address locator consists of only two files:

.loc: Contains the reference to the participating address locators
.loc.xml: Contains the metadata and parameters for the specified properties for the composite locator

Applications created using ArcGIS Runtime SDKs can work with a local locator using on-board data to geocode or reverse geocode in an offline environment, or when the device does not have a network connection. A local locator contains *.loc, *.loc.xml, *.locb, and *.lox files, which are generated from the export process in ArcGIS Desktop. An example is shown in the screenshot below for the San Diego locator:
User-added image

Without the *.locb file, an ArcGIS Runtime SDK is not able to use the locator in an offline environment.

Procedure

Note:
To use Runtime-related tools, enable Runtime Tools in ArcMap. Click the Customize button in the toolbar, and navigate to ArcMap Options. Click the Sharing tab. Under Packaging, click the check box next to Enable ArcGIS Runtime Tools.

ArcGIS Desktop version 10.2.1 and above is required to use Runtime Tools.

The following instructions describe how to export a locator as ArcGIS Runtime content from ArcMap, to create the desired .locb file:

Add a locator to the map document. This can be done by dragging and dropping the locator to map document.
Save the map document.
Click File > Share As > Runtime Content.
In the ArcGIS Runtime Content dialog, set path to save the content. If no folder name is specified, the content is saved in the Untitled folder at the given (or default) path. If a folder name is specified in the path, ensure that there is a folder created in that given path. For example, if the path is D:\Shared\Offline\San-Diego-Locator, there must be a San-Diego-Locator folder under the D:\Shared\Offline directory.

Navigate to Locator and click Use a locator from the current map.
Select the locator.

Click Analyze and Share.

When exporting the locator as runtime content, the option Do not include feature and tabular data can be chosen in the Feature and Tabular Data tab in the ArcGIS Runtime Content window. If the option, Include feature and tabular data for read-only reference is chosen, a *.geodatabase file is generated in addition to the local Locator that contains *.locb, *.loc, *.loc.xml, and *.lox files. The *.geodatabase file contains read-only features and tabular data.

This image shows the Feature and Tabular Data option in the ArcGIS Runtime window