Geocoding Address without Arc Server?

Question

I'm helping geocode addresses, and new at it. My office does not have Arc Server, is this required? I found this conversation Address or reverse geocode a point shapefile that points me to address locators. Can I just load the street map and do this in ArcMap without ArcServer?

if not, I have been trying to do this through ArcGIS Explorer for Desktop, but it is suprisingly frustrating to migrate from this to ArcMap. It doesn't provide xy locations as a field, and only preserves one field from the original spreadsheet. In ArcMap I was able to do a join, and then 'add xy coordinates'. but there's got to be an easier way.

Answer 1

Yes, add the spreadsheet or any table with addresses to ArcMap 10.0+. Right click, the sheet in data source view, and click "Geocode Addresses". Follow the prompts and you will be good to go.

I think there is a limit to the addresses, but I think it's in the thousands?

Answer 2

There is no need to use the overly complicated Arc geocoding; as long as you do not mind limit of about 2,000 addresses per day, http://www.hamstermap.com will work for you.

When you are finished, you can display the coordinates using Quick Map or save the coordinates and display them in Arc.