# GeoCoding Using a Single City Shapefile

**URL:** <https://community.thinkgeo.com/t/geocoding-using-a-single-city-shapefile/7259>\
**Category:** Geocoding\
**Created:** [March 12, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://community.thinkgeo.com/t/geocoding-using-a-single-city-shapefile/7259 "2012-03-12T23:47:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dennis](https://community.thinkgeo.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@Dennis](https://community.thinkgeo.com/u/Dennis)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://community.thinkgeo.com/t/geocoding-using-a-single-city-shapefile/7259/1 "2012-03-12T23:47:41Z")

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I've&nbsp;been&nbsp;attempting&nbsp;to&nbsp;get&nbsp;started&nbsp;incorporating&nbsp;the&nbsp;GeoCoder,&nbsp;but&nbsp;am&nbsp;not&nbsp;having&nbsp;any&nbsp;success.

I&nbsp;have&nbsp;a&nbsp;streets&nbsp;shape&nbsp;layer&nbsp;for&nbsp;just&nbsp;one&nbsp;city&nbsp;which&nbsp;I&nbsp;want&nbsp;to&nbsp;geocode&nbsp;addresses&nbsp;against.

I&nbsp;want&nbsp;to&nbsp;be&nbsp;able&nbsp;to&nbsp;geocode&nbsp;addresses&nbsp;of&nbsp;a&nbsp;simple&nbsp;house&nbsp;number&nbsp;with&nbsp;street&nbsp;name&nbsp;as&nbsp;well&nbsp;as&nbsp;intersections.&nbsp;&nbsp;The&nbsp;street&nbsp;format&nbsp;is&nbsp;pretty&nbsp;standard&nbsp;--&nbsp;address&nbsp;prefix&nbsp;street&nbsp;type&nbsp;suffix.

Also&nbsp;have&nbsp;a&nbsp;need&nbsp;to&nbsp;reverse&nbsp;geocode&nbsp;based&nbsp;on&nbsp;lat/Long.

Is&nbsp;there&nbsp;any&nbsp;code&nbsp;that&nbsp;puts&nbsp;this&nbsp;all&nbsp;together?&nbsp;&nbsp;I've&nbsp;seen&nbsp;bits&nbsp;and&nbsp;pieces,&nbsp;but&nbsp;nothing&nbsp;that&nbsp;shows&nbsp;the&nbsp;basics&nbsp;from&nbsp;start&nbsp;to&nbsp;finish.

What&nbsp;plugin&nbsp;do&nbsp;I&nbsp;use&nbsp;and&nbsp;how&nbsp;exactly&nbsp;do&nbsp;I&nbsp;build&nbsp;that&nbsp;plugin&nbsp;for&nbsp;use&nbsp;with&nbsp;my&nbsp;shape&nbsp;layer?

I've&nbsp;seen&nbsp;references&nbsp;to&nbsp;column&nbsp;names&nbsp;used&nbsp;for&nbsp;prefix,&nbsp;type,&nbsp;suffix,&nbsp;etc,&nbsp;but&nbsp;how&nbsp;do&nbsp;I&nbsp;create&nbsp;the&nbsp;plugin&nbsp;to&nbsp;get&nbsp;those&nbsp;column&nbsp;names&nbsp;set&nbsp;to&nbsp;the&nbsp;column&nbsp;names&nbsp;in&nbsp;my&nbsp;shape&nbsp;layer?

In&nbsp;one&nbsp;of&nbsp;the&nbsp;forms&nbsp;I've&nbsp;seen&nbsp;lines&nbsp;like&nbsp;that&nbsp;shown&nbsp;below,&nbsp;but&nbsp;for&nbsp;me&nbsp;'GeocoderHelper'&nbsp;is&nbsp;not&nbsp;defined.&nbsp;&nbsp;Is&nbsp;this&nbsp;still&nbsp;valid?

Thanks,

Dennis

streetsColumnList.Add(

new&nbsp;DbfMatchingPluginColumn(ThinkGeo.MapSuite.MapSuiteGeocoder.GeocoderHelper.fromLeftColumnName,&nbsp;ThinkGeo.MapSuite.MapSuiteGeocoder.DbfMatchingPluginColumnType.Long,&nbsp;4));

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**Author:** ![ThinkGeo](https://community.thinkgeo.com/user_avatar/community.thinkgeo.com/thinkgeo/32/25029_2.png) [@ThinkGeo](https://community.thinkgeo.com/u/ThinkGeo)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://community.thinkgeo.com/t/geocoding-using-a-single-city-shapefile/7259/2 "2012-03-20T13:26:02Z")

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Dennis,&nbsp;  
&nbsp;&nbsp;  
&nbsp;You&nbsp;probably&nbsp;need&nbsp;to&nbsp;create&nbsp;your&nbsp;own&nbsp;MatchingPlugin,&nbsp;you&nbsp;can&nbsp;find&nbsp;the&nbsp;sample&nbsp;code&nbsp;in&nbsp;HowDoI&nbsp;samples&nbsp;which&nbsp;is&nbsp;install&nbsp;on&nbsp;you&nbsp;machine&nbsp;while&nbsp;install&nbsp;the&nbsp;MapSuiteGeoCoder&nbsp;package.&nbsp;There&nbsp;are&nbsp;two&nbsp;samples&nbsp;show&nbsp;how&nbsp;to&nbsp;do&nbsp;it,&nbsp;"Create&nbsp;a&nbsp;Text&nbsp;File&nbsp;MatchingPlugin"&nbsp;and&nbsp;"Create&nbsp;a&nbsp;Database&nbsp;MatchingPlugin".&nbsp;  
&nbsp;&nbsp;  
&nbsp;Let&nbsp;me&nbsp;know&nbsp;if&nbsp;you&nbsp;have&nbsp;more&nbsp;questions.&nbsp;  
&nbsp;&nbsp;  
&nbsp;Thanks,&nbsp;  
&nbsp;James

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**Author:** ![Dennis](https://community.thinkgeo.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@Dennis](https://community.thinkgeo.com/u/Dennis)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://community.thinkgeo.com/t/geocoding-using-a-single-city-shapefile/7259/3 "2012-03-20T23:40:45Z")

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James,

Thanks&nbsp;for&nbsp;your&nbsp;response.

Does&nbsp;the&nbsp;GeoCoder&nbsp;have&nbsp;an&nbsp;'Address&nbsp;Standardizer'?&nbsp;&nbsp;If&nbsp;so&nbsp;would&nbsp;you&nbsp;have&nbsp;any&nbsp;sample&nbsp;code&nbsp;that&nbsp;makes&nbsp;use&nbsp;of&nbsp;it?

I&nbsp;had&nbsp;several&nbsp;questions&nbsp;in&nbsp;my&nbsp;initial&nbsp;post.&nbsp;&nbsp;Would&nbsp;you&nbsp;take&nbsp;a&nbsp;look&nbsp;at&nbsp;those&nbsp;and&nbsp;offer&nbsp;suggestions?

Also,&nbsp;I&nbsp;am&nbsp;looking&nbsp;to&nbsp;GeoCode&nbsp;from&nbsp;an&nbsp;existing&nbsp;standard&nbsp;Shape&nbsp;File,&nbsp;part&nbsp;of&nbsp;which&nbsp;is&nbsp;the&nbsp;associated&nbsp;dbf&nbsp;file.&nbsp;&nbsp;I&nbsp;don't&nbsp;want&nbsp;to&nbsp;be&nbsp;creating&nbsp;any&nbsp;dbf&nbsp;files&nbsp;as&nbsp;I&nbsp;already&nbsp;have&nbsp;a&nbsp;dbf&nbsp;file&nbsp;that&nbsp;contains&nbsp;the&nbsp;addresses&nbsp;that&nbsp;I&nbsp;want&nbsp;to&nbsp;GeoCode.&nbsp;&nbsp;Can&nbsp;you&nbsp;show&nbsp;me&nbsp;with&nbsp;concrete&nbsp;examples&nbsp;how&nbsp;to&nbsp;do&nbsp;that?

Regards,

Dennis

&nbsp;

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**Author:** ![ThinkGeo](https://community.thinkgeo.com/user_avatar/community.thinkgeo.com/thinkgeo/32/25029_2.png) [@ThinkGeo](https://community.thinkgeo.com/u/ThinkGeo)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 9:06am UTC](https://community.thinkgeo.com/t/geocoding-using-a-single-city-shapefile/7259/4 "2012-03-23T09:06:04Z")

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Dennis,&nbsp;  
&nbsp;&nbsp;  
&nbsp;Yes,&nbsp;Geocoder&nbsp;have&nbsp;an&nbsp;‘Address&nbsp;Standardizer’,&nbsp;for&nbsp;example&nbsp;“5300&nbsp;N&nbsp;Winthrop&nbsp;Ave&nbsp;Chicago&nbsp;IL&nbsp;60640”,&nbsp;it&nbsp;stand&nbsp;for&nbsp;house&nbsp;number,&nbsp;street&nbsp;direction,&nbsp;street&nbsp;name,&nbsp;street&nbsp;type,&nbsp;city,&nbsp;state&nbsp;and&nbsp;zipcode.&nbsp;There&nbsp;are&nbsp;many&nbsp;sample&nbsp;codes&nbsp;in&nbsp;our&nbsp;HowDoI&nbsp;sample,&nbsp;you&nbsp;can&nbsp;download&nbsp;our&nbsp;free&nbsp;trail&nbsp;evaluation&nbsp;version&nbsp;and&nbsp;try&nbsp;it.&nbsp;  
&nbsp;&nbsp;  
&nbsp;The&nbsp;.dbf&nbsp;index&nbsp;file&nbsp;in&nbsp;Geocoder&nbsp;is&nbsp;different&nbsp;from&nbsp;.dbf&nbsp;in&nbsp;shape&nbsp;files,&nbsp;it&nbsp;works&nbsp;in&nbsp;different&nbsp;ways,&nbsp;if&nbsp;you&nbsp;want&nbsp;to&nbsp;use&nbsp;shape&nbsp;file&nbsp;dbf&nbsp;file&nbsp;as&nbsp;index,&nbsp;you&nbsp;need&nbsp;to&nbsp;create&nbsp;your&nbsp;own&nbsp;MatchingPlugin&nbsp;as&nbsp;I&nbsp;mentioned&nbsp;before,&nbsp;you&nbsp;can&nbsp;find&nbsp;the&nbsp;sample&nbsp;code&nbsp;in&nbsp;HowDoI&nbsp;samples.&nbsp;  
&nbsp;&nbsp;  
&nbsp;For&nbsp;your&nbsp;question&nbsp;above,&nbsp;I&nbsp;think&nbsp;you&nbsp;don’t&nbsp;need&nbsp;to&nbsp;create&nbsp;DbfMatchingPluginColumnType,&nbsp;if&nbsp;you&nbsp;want&nbsp;to&nbsp;,&nbsp;the&nbsp;first&nbsp;parameter&nbsp;of&nbsp;constructor&nbsp;is&nbsp;just&nbsp;column&nbsp;name&nbsp;which&nbsp;you&nbsp;want&nbsp;to&nbsp;specific,&nbsp;you&nbsp;don’t&nbsp;need&nbsp;to&nbsp;use&nbsp;GeocoderHelper.&nbsp;  
&nbsp;&nbsp;  
&nbsp;For&nbsp;more&nbsp;information&nbsp;you&nbsp;can&nbsp;look&nbsp;at&nbsp;our&nbsp;Geocoder&nbsp;Wiki:&nbsp;[wiki.thinkgeo.com/wiki/Map\_Suite\_Geocoder](http://wiki.thinkgeo.com/wiki/Map_Suite_Geocoder)&nbsp;  
&nbsp;&nbsp;  
&nbsp;I&nbsp;think&nbsp;all&nbsp;your&nbsp;questions&nbsp;can&nbsp;be&nbsp;found&nbsp;in&nbsp;WIKI,&nbsp;if&nbsp;you&nbsp;have&nbsp;more&nbsp;question&nbsp;please&nbsp;feel&nbsp;free&nbsp;to&nbsp;let&nbsp;us&nbsp;know.&nbsp;  
&nbsp;&nbsp;  
&nbsp;Thanks,&nbsp;  
&nbsp;James