PROBLEM

'Find a Place' tool does not work

Description

In MapStudio, when locating a specific place using the 'Find a Place' tool, no place is found or no pop-up window opens to select a location from a list of candidates.

Cause

Possible causes:

1. The name of the place entered into the 'Find a Place' tool is either greatly misspelled or is not a place in the gazetteer database.

A good test to determine if this is part of the problem is to enter an obviously significant place like 'London', 'Tokyo', or 'Chicago'. That helps to determine whether or not there is a temporary problem with MapStudio's Gazetteer service.

2. The browser has a pop-up blocker enabled. If the name of the place entered is ambiguous, the 'Find a Place' tool will often provide a list of candidates to select from in a browser pop-up window.

MapStudio application commonly uses browser pop-up windows to provide some core functionality. In this case, if 'Orange' is entered, a pop-up would open to provide the user a list of candidate places from which to choose, since 'Orange' is a place name uses in many different places.

The 'Find a U.S. Address' and 'Download' tools are others that also make use of browser pop-ups.

A good test to see if problem #2 is part of the cause is to use a third-party pop-up blocker test Web site, like www.popuptest.com. Sites like these have tools that allow the user to trigger pop-up windows to open. If it is found that pop-ups from these sites also do not open, then it is a very good chance that problem #2 is at least part of the problem.

Solution or Workaround

A solution to problem #1 could be to check the spelling of the name of the place you entered and re-enter it. Or enter a different place name, perhaps something larger which is nearby the place being searched.

A solution to problem #2 would be to temporarily disable the pop-up blocker on the browser.

Many pop-up blockers allow a key on the keyboard to be used as a specific override. On PCs running Microsoft Windows, often this is the 'Ctrl' key. If that key is pressed as the function which would open the pop-up is selected, the pop-up will open, but the popup blocker would otherwise remain completely on. The specific key used may vary by browser type and version or the pop-up blocker add-in used.

Some browsers and pop-up blocker add-ins also allow a list of sites to be provided where the pop-up blocker is disabled. If 'www.mapstudio.com' is entered into this list of pop-up-allowed sites, all of MapStudio's designed functionality will be enabled while still preventing pop-ups on other sites.

ESRI's MapStudio application only uses pop-up windows for core functions and never for advertising or anything that has not been requested.

Article ID:000010686

Software:
  • Legacy Products

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