ArcGIS Pro 3.0 and Classic Locator and Geocoder Deprecation

Description

ArcGIS Pro 3.0 requires that the locators in the 'Geocoding Data for ArcGIS Pro' folder are used when working with Business Analyst data, and the locators in the 'Locators' folder are used with locally installed StreetMap Premium. To access these locators for geocoding, the StreetMap Premium extension must be enabled for ArcGIS Pro users.

Cause

The Classic Locators provided with the StreetMap Premium and Business Analyst data install have been deprecated, and are removed with the release of ArcGIS Pro 3.0. With the 3.0 release, migration documents were made available to help understand the benefits, risks, and implications of upgrading to the new major release version:

This document details the migration considerations for Geocoding, reminding users of the deprecation of the Create Address Locator and Standardize Addresses tools, which were removed at 3.0. The document states that "Locators created with the Create Address Locator tool are removed at ArcGIS Pro 3.0 and cannot be added to 3.0 or later," meaning they are NOT forward compatible.  

The Classic Locators, which are found in the "Geocoding Data" folder with Business Analyst Data, are composite address locators built from an older format of .loc, .loc.xml, .locb, and .loz files to store reference information. The new Pro Locators use a .loc and .loz format that more efficiently store geocoding reference information. 

To  geocode addresses from these data products in ArcGIS Pro, users must either add the new locators to their projects, or access the corresponding geocoding services published to ArcGIS Online or Portal for ArcGIS. Users can continue to utilize the World Geocoding Service as well.

Solution or Workaround

To add the USA.loc Pro locator to an ArcGIS Pro project:

1. Browse to the Geocoding Data for ArcGIS Pro folder when working with Business Analyst data, installed by default at:

C:\ArcGIS\Business Analyst

or to the Locators folder when working with StreetMap Premium data, installed by default at:

C:\StreetMap Premium

2. Select the USA.loc file in that folder.

Note: 
The locators found in the Geocoding Data for ArcGIS Pro folder or to the Locators folder require the StreetMap Premium extension. This extension is included with a purchase of the ArcGIS Business Analyst Standard or Advanced Bundle. If this extension is unavailable, please reach out to your Customer Service Representative to resolve this error.

For easy access to these locators in all of their ArcGIS Pro projects, make a folder connection to the Locators or Geocoding Data for ArcGIS Pro folder in the data install directory, right-click the folder connection, and select Add To Favorites or Add to New Projects.

Adding this folder connection to Favorite Items saves the connection in "C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Roaming\Esri\ArcGISPro\Favorites\Favorites.json" or "C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\ESRI\ArcGISPro\Favorites\Favorites.json", and is available in all ArcGIS Pro projects under Catalog\\Favorites.

Note:
Performing a soft reset of ArcGIS Pro disconnects this Favorites.json file and users must either copy the .json file into the new directory or re-create Favorite items to regain access in ArcGIS Pro.

When selecting Add to New Projects, ArcGIS Pro creates a folder connection to the resource when a new project is created in ArcGIS Pro, in addition to adding it to Favorites.