The Search widget returns inaccurate geographic results in ArcGIS Experience Builder

Description

When using the Search widget in ArcGIS Experience Builder to locate an address, the search results may return broader geographic locations that do not correspond to the data or layers on the map. The Search widget does not refine geographically relevant results, leading to less focused and accurate matches. In this example, despite the data being specific to Australian postcodes, the search results display addresses from multiple countries.

Cause

This is expected behavior when using the ArcGIS World Geocoding Service as the search source. By default, the ArcGIS World Geocoding Service returns search results without a defined extent. Consequently, the Search widget does not limit the results to the appropriate geographic area.

Solution or Workaround

The following workflow describes the steps to refine location searches by creating a custom locator view with defined geographic parameters and adding the locator to the Search widget in ArcGIS Experience Builder.

1. Create and define a custom locator view in ArcGIS Online.
   1. In ArcGIS Online, navigate to Content > My Content.
   2. On the My Content page, click New item.
   3. In the New item window, select Locator > Create a locator view from the ArcGIS World Geocoding Service. Click Next.
   4. Specify a title for the locator view in the Title text box. Optionally, choose a folder to save the locator item, and specify Categories, Tags, and Summary. Click Save.
   5. When prompted with Configure Locator (view), click OK.
   6. At the top of the Settings tab, click Locator (view).
   7. In the Locator (view) section, for Where do you want to search for locations?, select Within a specified area > Set area.
   8. In the Set Area dialog box, click Draw Area and define the desired geographic extent. Click OK.

Note:
Optionally, specify the desired location in the Find address or place search box and click OK.

Note:
Alternatively, in Step 1(g), select In selected countries/regions for Where do you want to search for locations? to specify the country or region by name.

9. Click Save to save the locator view settings.
10. On the Overview tab of the item details page, under URL, click Copy to copy the URL of the locator.

2. Add the custom locator as the search source in ArcGIS Experience Builder.
   1. Open the ArcGIS Experience Builder web experience.
   2. Click the Search widget to open the Search pane.
   3. In the Search pane, click New search source > Locator source.
   4. In the Set locator source pane, under Locator source, click Select utility.
   5. In the Select utility pane, click Add utility.
   6. In the Add utility pane, on the URL tab, paste the copied URL from Step 1(j) in the Enter URL text box. Click Add > Done.

7. In the Select utility pane, on the Added tab, select the added locator view.
8. In the Search pane, on the Content tab, click Delete next to ArcGIS World Geocoding Service to remove it as the search source.
9. Save, preview, and publish the experience.

The image below shows the search results that include only addresses in Australia, as specified in the locator view.