Find Places, Addresses, or Locations | Feedback E-mail this topic Print this topic

Find searches for place names, addresses, and locations and navigates to them on the map. ArcGIS Explorer lists the name(s) of the items Find returns in the area of the window directly below the input box. A temporary graphic is added to the map for the first found item at that location on the map, and the check box associated with that item is checked. If only a single item is found, the map navigates to that location. As you search for successive places, the results returned are added to the top of the list; for example in the illustration below, the first search was for "Rome" and the second search was for "Paris":

##### What do you want to find?

- A place by name
- An address
- A location by using coordinates
- A place in my own locator (.loc, .gcpk)

##### What do you want to do with the locations Find returns?

- Go to the location of one of them
- Delete some of them
- Move one or all of them to the map
- Delete them all

##### To find a place by name

In general the most common location associated with an unqualified name will be listed first; for example, if you specify "Rome" or "Paris", "Rome, Italy" or "Paris, France" will be listed, rather than a less commonly known place; however, if you know another qualifying administrative unit name that will narrow your search, you can enter it. For example, you could specify "Rome, New York" or "Paris, Texas" to find those two locations in the United States. A more general administrative unit may produce more results, for example if you specify "Muncie, United States" a list of all United States towns and cities named Muncie will be listed. The maximum number of places Find returns is 200.

##### Finding International Airports

In addition to place-names, you can specify airport names or their standard three letter International Air Transport Association (IATA) or four letter International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) codes, for example:

SFO |
NRT
LGA
LAX
JFK
EWR
CLT
CDG

##### Finding places of interest

Well known places of interest can be found by simply entering their name. Include the country or city name if known. For example:

- Big Ben, UK
- Eiffel Tower, Paris
- Mt Everest

##### Finding United States ZIP codes

You can find the location of a five-digit United States postal ZIP code by entering it in the input box. Find displays the extent of the ZIP code area surrounding the ZIP code point.
Top of Page

##### To find an address

You can find the location of addresses in the United States, Canada and the majority of Europe, although European coverage is not complete, and also is not of a consistent level accross all countries.

Note: Using application configurations, you can direct ArcGIS Explorer to use your own geocoding and place finding services. Refer to the Custom resources topic for more information on using a custom service.

##### US address format

The standard format for entering an address in the United States is:
`<house number> <street name>, <city>, <state>, <zip code>`
Note the use and position of commas and all parameters; while not required, for example a Zip code may replace <city>, <state> parameters, they are strongly recommended to reduce ambiguity and provide the means for achieving a more accurate result.

You can find an intersection of two streets by using an ampersand character between two road names, for example:
`<street name 1> & <street name 2>, <city>`

##### Non-US address format

The standard format for non-United States addresses is similar to the U.S. format:
`<house number> <street name>, <city>, <state or province or administrative unit>, <postal code>, <country>`

Again, note the use and position of commas and all parameters in order to reduce ambiguity and provide the means for achieving a more accurate result. This is especially true of non-United States addresses.

##### Speeding up address searches

Note the inclusion of the <country> parameter. Including it will result in significantly faster retrieval times. Another speed optimization is to switch to the language of the country in which the address you are trying to find is located. For example, if you have a Japanese address, switch to the Japanese language version and after the application restarts, specify the address(es) to find.

##### To change the language of the application

Click the ArcGIS Explorer Button , then click the ArcGIS Explorer Options button. At the bottom of the dialog choose the language. ArcGIS Explorer will restart and its user interface and help system will reflect the language you chose.

##### Additional Notes

For successful address matching (also called geocoding) at the house-level, the address must contain a certain combination of fields.

Possible combinations for successful geocoding are as follows:

- Street Address (House number and street, or P.O. Box), City, State/Province

- Street Address (House number and street, or P.O. Box), Postal Code

- Street Address (Street name only), Cross Street, City, State

- Street Address (Street name only), Cross Street, Postal Code

Top of Page

##### To find a location by specifying coordinates

If you enter coordinates rather than a place name or an address in the text box at the top of the dialog box and press Enter or click the Find button , and the coordinates entered are valid, ArcGIS Explorer creates a temporary item and navigates to the location. If you specify a coordinate that represents a point location (rather than a grid zone or square) you'll be positioned above the location at an altitude 2km above the surface elevation of the coordinate. Once you've specified the location, you can move the temporary item to the map by right-clicking it and selecting Move to map.

##### Specifying coordinates

You can specify the location as a latitude and longitude coordinate pair, a Military Grid Reference (MGRS) grid location, or a US National Grid (USNG) location. In addition, the location will be positioned properly regardless of which units you've chosen to display in the status area at the bottom of the map. For example, you can enter a latitude and longitude coordinate pair and the location will be found, even if you've chosen to display it on top of an MGRS or USNG reference grid.

Latitude and longitude
- Latitude (North/South) and longitude (East/West) pairs are one of the coordinate types that you may specify for Go To Location. Spherical coordinates aren't always specified in this order, so take care when you enter coordinates on the dialog box that you enter them in this order. The latitude must be entered first. For example, if someone asks you to plot 17.1325 -60.666 on the map, ask them if these coordinates are in long/lat or lat/long order. The only way to tell the order from the coordinates themselves is if they contain E, W, N, S characters to signify the hemisphere.
- Whether you use Decimal Degrees (DD), Degrees Minutes Seconds (DMS), Degrees Decimal Minutes (DDM), or Degrees Minutes Decimal Seconds (DMDS) coordinates can be entered by using a minus sign before the numeric value to signify the Western or Southern quadrants.
- Values in DMS coordinates can be separated with the ° ' " special characters (such as when you paste coordinates that you have copied from other dialog boxes or applications that use those characters) or spaces. A space between the DMS coordinates will be interpreted as a change to a new unit type, e.g. Degrees <followed by a space> Minutes <followed by a space> Seconds.
- Whether you use DD, DMS, DDM or DMDS on the dialog box, coordinates can be entered in any of the latitude/longitude formats, and they will be automatically converted to match your chosen format.
- When you are using DMS, coordinates you input are always converted to use E, W, N, S to signify quadrants and are given the ° ' " special characters.
The following are validly formatted latitude/longitude coordinates:

Latitude | Longitude
45 | -45
45°30'30"N | 45°30'30"W
45 30 30 N | 45 30 30 W
45.50833 | -45.50833

Grid coordinate systems: MGRS and USNG
- The following list contains validly formatted U.S. Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) and US National Grid (USNG) position locations that can be specified in the coordinate input textbox. Position locations may include spaces. In order to successfully find coordinates using these systems, choose the appropriate coordinate format from the Coordinates drop down list in the Units group on the Display tab of the Ribbon.

  Example | Locates a point with a precision of | Number of digits | Characterization
  18SUH | 100,000-meters | 0 | size of a regional area
  18SUH64 | 10,000-meters | 2 | size of a city
  18SUH6743 | 1,000-meters | 4 | the size of a neighborhood
  18SUH678432 | 100-meters | 6 | the size of a soccer field
  18SUH67894321 | 10-meters | 8 | the size of a modest home
  18SUH6789043210 | 1-meter | 10 | within a parking spot

  ##### Notes on using grid coordinate systems

  - If you specify a 3 or 5 character alphanumeric MGRS or USNG coordinate to locate a Grid Zone Designation, for example 18S, or a 100,000-meter Square Identification, for example, 18SUH, ArcGIS Explorer will zoom so that the entire zone or square is visible.
  - MGRS/USNG coordinates whose alphanumeric length is not 3 or 5 are treated like exact points and ArcGIS Explorer will zoom so that the coordinate point is at the target location.
  - Specify grid zone designations less than 10, for example 04Q, with a leading 0 (zero).
  - Learn more about the MGRS or the USNG

Top of Page

##### Use your own ArcGIS locator

You can use your own locator (.loc) or geocoding package (.gcpk) with ArcGIS Explorer. Using a local locator allows you to find geocoded locations while disconnected from the internet.

Add a locator by searching ArcGIS online for a locator.
When you click on a locator in the search results it is added to ArcGIS Explorer. You can then activate it for use by clicking on it in the Find window.
When you type in a place to find a hint is shown with the syntax that the locator is expecting.
You can also add locators via the ArcGIS Explorer options dialog, click resources and manage locators, to add and remove locators.
Top of Page

##### To go to a found location

Double-click the location's name in the area below the text box of the Find dialog. Depending on how you set the Go To animation on the Common page of the ArcGIS Explorer Options dialog, the application will either fly or simply move to the location. Note that if you specify that you want the Go To animation to fly from one point to another may take longer. You can refine the characteristics of the flight animation by setting the Flight Characteristics options.
Top of Page

##### To delete some of the found locations

Select one or more of the found locations in the area below the text box of the Find dialog, click the right-mouse key, then choose Delete. To select an adjacent range of items, select a location, hold down the Shift key, and then hold down the item at the end of the range; to select multiple, non-adjacent items hold down the Ctrl key while making each selection.
Top of Page

##### To move the found locations you've selected to the map

Select one or more of the found locations in the area below the text box of the Find dialog, click the right-mouse key, then choose Move to Map. Select a location and then hold down the Shift key to select an adjacent range of items; hold down Ctrl key to select multiple, non-adjacent items.
Top of Page

##### To delete all the found locations from the list

Click the Clear button at the top of the dialog or move the mouse over the area below the text box of the Find dialog, click the right-mouse key, and then choose Delete All. .
Top of Page