LocateNYC is a powerful geocoding (address search) service for New York City, built on the latest authoritative city open data. LocateNYC provides a robust and cost effective subscription based search product for organizations needing to accurately search and map locations within the city. The LocateNYC search service can be used as a SaaS based service or installed on premises if required.
LocateNYC allows users to search for a number of different address types, including addresses, building floors (3D), streets, buildings, tax lots, intersections, placenames, blocks and street stretches. LocateNYC also allows for seamless integration and use in Esri maps and applications, allowing for batch geocoding, reverse geocoding and autocomplete/suggestions.
This month we are excited to announce the latest release of LocateNYC, which includes data updates and new search functions. We also discuss some of the behind the scenes enhancements to the API.
Latest Authoritative Data
We have always been committed to providing the latest and most authoritative data for New York City in this single search application. LocateNYC is partially built upon the City of New York’s Geosupport application, the official geocoding application for New York City. As a result, LocateNYC is continually refreshed with the latest official data packages for Geosupport. Our current update is no different and incorporates the latest Geosupport data packages as well as a number open data sources available from the city.
Accurate Midpoint Locations for Street Segments and Blockfaces
Previously, when searching for specific street segments or blockfaces (on-from-to type searches), LocateNYC would return coordinates for the start or endpoint of a street segment or blockface. With the new release, every street segment/blockface search will return an accurate midpoint location of the street segment or block.
Midpoint location for a Street Segment
Locally Preferred Street Names
Many streets in New York City do not have a single street name that applies to entire stretch of a street. Though most streets may have only 1 name for all blocks and format types, there are many which may have multiple acceptable names depending on the specific street block or neighborhood. Getting the locally ‘preferred’ street name is often desirable and more accurate. LocateNYC now allows users to select a specific street name format in the response. This is called “street name normalization” and involves a request parameter called “normalizeType.” This parameter is used to tell LocateNYC what street name format should be used in the response. Street name normalization allows a user to return the locally preferred street name for a specific street segment or blockface. You can choose from the following types of normalization formats:
‘primary’
Represents one spelling of a street name that NYDCP deems ‘best’ represents the entire street as a whole. Most generic name.
‘principal’
Represents the best chosen spelling of a street name from all the available street name variations in the specific local street name group.
‘preferred’
The best locally preferred (for given street segment) or unique street name.
As an example, when searching for ‘1890 Seventh Ave in Manhattan’, the locally preferred name could be returned in place of the primary name-
primary: ‘1890 7 AVENUE’
principal: ‘1890 7 AVENUE’
preferred: ‘1890 ADAM CLAYTON POWELL JR BOULEVARD’
Enhanced Neighborhood Name Support
In many locations within New York City, and address is commonly associated and referenced with a specific neighborhood name (Middle Village) in place of generic borough name (Queens). LocateNYC now allows for searching via neighborhood names in addition to the use of regular borough names. This will inevitably lead to better match results and greater accuracy in geocoding.
Example
Complete Attributes for Reverse Geocode Lookups
The reverse geocode or address lookup feature in LocateNYC previously returned only a small set of attributes for the address without complete attributes for the address location. LocateNYC now returns a complete set of attributes for address locations, as detailed in the address response parameters section.
Updated Documentation
We’ve greatly enhanced our documentation pages to include detailed examples for all services and search offerings, including descriptions for all response attributes.
Street Stretch
LocateNYC now includes a new search type, called Street Stretch. Street stretch includes anything from a two block street stretch of a single street to a stretch spanning multiple blocks for an entire street. Users may search for street stretches using either a single street parameter (ex Flushing Ave, Brooklyn) or using an ON-FROM-TO type search format that includes an ‘on’ street and any two non-consecutive cross streets along its length (similar to single street segment or block searches). A comparison between street segment and street stretch searches are shown below.
Street segment example: 7th Ave btwn 131 St & 132 St, Manhattan
Street stretch example: 7th Ave btwn 131 St & 135 St, Manhattan
Street stretch responses have also been enhanced to include all of the individual street segments (blocks) and intersections that encompass an entire street stretch, along with their coordinates and attributes. For instance, a search for 7th Ave between 131 St & 135 St would return the coordinates and attributes for all 4 individual street segments and 5 intersections that make up that stretch.
Example Response:
Response attributes for a street stretch (7th Ave btwn 131 St & 135 St)
The Road Ahead
We are constantly enhancing the LocateNYC suite of services to provide the best available data and most accurate geocoding locations for New York City. Here are some of the enhancements we are looking to add to LocateNYC in the near future.
Better Placenames:
Often times, users don’t know the exact address of a location, but they do have a landmark name. Long story short, place names are integral to searching for and geocoding locations. Although our current place names search includes the best available city open data, we will be working to enhance this feature to include more place names in the coming months.
Enhancements to Reverse Geocode:
Often times users will need to lookup the address or description of a point location on the map. Reverse geocoding allows you to look up the address of a location or set of coordinates. Although the LocateNYC API currently offers this service for street addresses, we will be enhancing this service to allow geocoding of additional address types (street names, buildings, intersections, etc).
Enhancements to Suggestions:
As with any search engine, suggestions and autocomplete cut down on response time, increase search accuracy and increase user satisfaction overall. DVG will be working to greatly enhance our suggestion service to allow for all address search types in the near future. Users will also be able to narrow suggestions to a specific address type (say place names for instance) or allow suggestions for all address types.
Take it for a Spin
The LocateNYC API can be easily integrated into your existing web maps and applications, including your Esri maps and apps. Check out the LocateNYC information page on how to get started with a free trial account.
LocateNYC in ArcGIS
