Goal

We learned how to convert Latitude & Longitude NUMBER information to point vector files. However, what if you got location data with an actual address, such as  street names, state, county, zip code, etc.? Geocoding enables us to transform text-based information into a GIS database, i.e., a point vector and its attribute table.

Geocoding is transforming a description of a location—such as a pair of coordinates, an address, or a place’s name—to a location on the Earth’s surface. You can geocode by entering one location description at a time or providing many at once in a table. The resulting locations are output as geographic features with attributes that can be used for mapping or spatial analysis. You can quickly find various kinds of locations through geocoding. The types of locations you can search for include points of interest or names from a gazetteer, such as mountains, bridges, and stores; coordinates based on latitude and longitude or other reference systems, such as the Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) or the United States National Grid system; and addresses, which can come in a variety of styles and formats, including street intersections, house numbers with street names, and postal codes.

Using the geocoding method in this lab, you will use the crime report from the City of Indianapolis and Marion County (Open Indy Data Portal,  https://data.indy.gov/) to create a crime incident point vector layer in 2020 and 2021. We will also visually estimate the reported crime spatial patterns in Marion County using the points layer we made by the Geocoding process.

Skills

The purpose of this lab is to help you practice the following skills that are essential    to your success in this course, as well as in professional life beyond school:

• Create an Address Locator using the street centerline vector.
• Convert text-based address information to a vector layer using the address locator that you created.
• Corrected unmatched addresses in the vector layer that you created.
• Generate a density map from a point vector.
• Search location with address locators.

Lab Data Sources

• Road Centerlines of Indiana Current: IndianaMap (https://www.indianamap.org/)
• The Uniform Crime Report: Open Indy Data Portal (https://data.indy.gov/)