BCIT GIS Student Project Proposal

Geocoding Data Automation with ArcObjects

Negussie Debella

05 December 2006

Geographic Information Systems

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Abstract
The practical training skill is always an essential integral part of particularly, the training
program of the higher learning institutions that breed professional experts. The BCIT,
GIS project planning course is such a well designed program to enable students to gain
adequate job-ready skill. Practical skills are vitally essential in addressing GIS-related
community and environmental problems that are ever getting more complex.
The present project is aimed at automating the school planner and school locator data of
the Omega Group. It involves creating a Visual Basic application using the latest version
of ArcGIS ArcObjects. The project encompasses customizing, script writing and
programming to convert the old geocoding files into up-to-date, user-friendly geofiles.
The entire work is undertaken at BCIT on Fridays over about 25 weeks between January
and May. This totals about 360 working hours. The output of the project will be used by
the communities and school administrators to respectively get good access to up-to-date
school information and to plan efficient delivery of essential school resources.

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Table of Contents

Abstract …………………………………………………………………………....i
Table of Contents ……………………………………………………………...….ii
1.0 Introduction …………………………………………………………………..…...1
2.0 The Project Statement ……………………………………………...……………..1
3.0 Project Sponsor ……………………………………………………...……………2
3.1 Company Profile …………………..…………………...…………………2
4.0 Project Objectives ………………………………………………..……………….4
5.0 Project Deliverables ……………………………………………………………....4
6.0 Project Background ……………………………………………………...………..5
6.1 Geocoding Background ……………………………………….………….5
6.1.1 Geocoding Applications …………………………………………..6
6.1.2 The Geocoding Workflow ……………………………….……….7
6.1.3 Geocoding Procedures ……………………………………...…….7
7.0 Project Datasets ………………………………………………………..………….8
8.0 Data Dictionary ……………………………………………………..…………….9
9.0 Project Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) …………….………………………..9
10.0 Gantt Table and Chart ………………………………………………...…………11
11.0 Project Methodology …………………………………………………………….12
11.1 Defining the Scope of the Project ………………………………...……..12
11.2 Adjusting Project Datasets ……………………………………..………..12
11.3 ArcObjects Customization …………………………………..…………..13
11.4 Acquiring Sponsor Feedback ………………………………..…………..13
11.5 Documentation of Project Outputs ………………………..……………..13
12.0 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………14
13.0 References ……………………………………………………………………….15

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List of Figures
Figure 1 School Locator Program ………………………………………………….3
Figure 2 School Planner Program …………………………………...……………..3
Figure 3 Gantt Table and Chart …………………………………………..……….11

List of Tables
Table 1 The Geocoding Workflow ………………………………………..………7
Table 2 Geocoding Project Dataset …………………………………...….………..8
Table 3 Project Work Breakdown Structure Table ………………………………..9

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1.0 Introduction
The significance of any education program, in general, and class room-based theoretical
learning process in particular is measured by the capabilities of the graduates in properly
addressing the challenges of practical field problems. The intent of this project
undertaking is to boost up the GIS skills and knowledge gained through class room
learning processes at BCIT through addressing real world problems. This project
represents one of the field-oriented practical training of the BCIT, GIS program intended
to equip the graduates with firm real world GIS problem solving techniques and
expertise.
In this project it is intended to apply the knowledge and skill gained during the nine
months intensive training period to update the school locator and school planner data
with the latest ESRI’s ArcGIS (ArcObject) and Visual Basic software. The project
outputs produce listing table that uses a combination of attributes from a street network
layer and a polygon layer. This helps school facility planners and educational
administrators to allocate resources more effectively thereby improve the quality of
education for all students in the study districts. Moreover, by integrating student records
with mapping tools, it enables District staff to locate new facilities, project future
enrolments, redraw existing boundaries and distribute staff members where they are
needed most.
This proposal is subdivided and presented in 12 sequentially organized main sections.
Part two briefly states Project Statement; Part three introduces the Project Sponsor; Part
four highlights the major and specific Objectives of the project; Part five describes the
Project Deliverables; Part six discusses Project Background; Part seven highlights Project
Datasets; Part eight presents Data Dictionary; Part nine presents Work Breakdown
Structure Table; Part ten exhibits Gantt Table and Chart; Part eleven describes Project
Methodology; Part twelve presents Conclusion and Part thirteen lists References used in
this proposal preparation.

2.0 Project Statement

This project jointly is undertaken together with the Omega Group and is primarily aimed
at enhancing its School Locator and School Planner programs. The School Locator and

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School Planner provide a valuable public service both to the community and facility
planners and educational administrators respectively in assessing pertinent schools and in
allocating resources efficiently and timely.

3.0 Project Sponsor

The project sponsor from the Omega Group is Kevin Milos former graduate of BCIT,
GIS program. He is quite familiar with the program content and learning objectives of
this project. Currently he is working as GIS software developer for the Omega Group
specifically on web and desktop as well as Server and Engine parts. This makes the
sponsor well qualified to competently oversee the successful implementation of the
project.
Contact address:
ƒ Kevin Milos (GIS Software Developer)
ƒ The Omega Group
ƒ 5160 Carroll Canyon Rd.
ƒ San Diego, CA, 92121-1775
ƒ USA
ƒ E-mail address: kevin@theomegagroup.com

3.1 Company Profile

The Omega Group (founded in 1992) is an industry-leading developer of innovative
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software designed to aid decision-making in law
enforcement, public safety, and public education. Through its multidisciplinary and
experienced staff and associates, the Group is fully involved in such disciplines as
geography, demography, crime analysis, software development, facility planning,
education, and statistics. It attributes the completeness of its solutions to the high level of
data integration and processing, as well as its application customizations and support, all
delivered as a turnkey solution.
Although Omega’s corporate headquarters are located in San Diego, with a regional
office on the east coast, it has provided solutions to clients distributed throughout the
United States and Canada. It has over 450 law enforcement, public safety, and public
education clients making use of its solutions.

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The Omega Group has formed a strategic business partnership with ESRI (the world
leader in GIS) in order to bring its clients the most powerful GIS tools available. Omega
now develops GIS applications in the ArcGIS (desktop) and ArcIMS (web)
environments. ArcGIS is a powerful and flexible Windows GIS environment which
enables clients to geographically analyze data more easily than ever before.

Figure 1. School Locator program Figure 2. School Planner program

The Omega Group builds crime analysis applications to help law enforcement agencies
(police, sheriff, campus police) track and analyze crime data. CrimeView is a crime
analysis product (based on ArcGIS), used for providing reporting, mapping, and analysis
of crime data in an easy user interface. It also offers CrimeView Web for the department
intranet and CrimeView Community for public crime and sex offender mapping.
FireView is an ArcGIS product developed as a solution for fire and emergency response
departments used for providing reporting, mapping, and analysis of incident data in an
easy user interface. It also offers FireView Web for the department intranet incident
query and mapping capabilities.
For school districts School Planner is used for tracking and forecasting student enrolment
patterns. It also offers now School Locator which is a Web based boundary lookup
application for parents. Omega's advanced GIS tools and experience have made it the
premier enrolment forecasting and facility planning consultant for school districts in
southern California and Texas.

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4.0 Project Objectives
The overall objective of this project is to deepen the knowledge and skills acquired at
BCIT in the practical application of GIS to help addressing real world challenges
effectively. Specifically, this project is aimed at improving the programming skills of the
researcher in applying GIS to workspace real situations.
The main objective of the project is to automate vitally important school planner and
locator datasets and thus help the Omega Group with the updating of the datasets.
Specifically this will enhance:
- the community’s search and query for information pertaining to the schools in
their localities
- the administrative services of the schools through better public access to upgraded
datasets/information
- promote adequate planning and efficient and timely delivery of school resources
The extensive nature of the dataset is expected to take up the entire of 360 hrs allocated
to this project. If time allows it is envisaged to integrate these datasets in the existing
school planners and school locators and test their accuracy in comparison to the one
currently in use.

5.0 Project Deliverables

This project involves the conversion and updating of geocoding datasets from old
ArcView 3.3 /Avenue Routine versions, using the latest version of ArcView. The project
involves writing a working adaptation to the ArcObjects with stand alone VB .NET
programming application. Accordingly, the end product of this project will be a geofile of
an address listing table that uses a combination of attributes from a street network layer
and a polygon layer (school zones) to determine which polygon each school address
range in the network should be assigned to for each side of the street. The geofile will be
a point layer which assigns a point for each side of each street segment and enables
determining which school zone the point (specific school) falls in. This will greatly
enhance up-to-date information availability to the community as well as school facility
planners and educational administrators. The output geofile will address any arising
address conflicts due to the extension of some streets into more than one zone and the

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falling of each side of a street segment into different zones. The final output of the project
along with clearly specified and detailed procedural activities adopted will be
documented and presented in a final report of the project and open presentation.

6.0 Project Background

This project attracted my attention due to two main reasons. First, I had great interest and
enthusiasm to further my programming skills and expertise using the VB.NET
application. As the project is mainly done with this programming language, it attracted
my attention. Secondly, the application of the Dataset, assisting local communities and
school administrators respectively to get good access to up-to-date school information
and to provide vital school supplies in a timely and efficient manner forced me to draw
my attention to. The fact that the Omega Group addresses various community problems
with a wide range of GIS application attracted my attention to get more acquaintances
with all their GIS real world applications. I personally found the application of GIS
technology in advancing the education system through improved access to information
both for the parents and the pupils, through expediting provisions of school supplies and
through enhancement of school administrative processes.

6.1 Geocoding Background

Geocoding is an integral part of GIS since any attribute information that needs to be
spatially referenced to a particular point on the Earth must first be geocoded. Geocoding,
also known as linear referencing refers to the process of identifying correct geographic
positions for a point feature on the earth and assigning spatial reference (latitude and
longitude values) for each record in a table.
According to Manifold (accessed 18 November 2006) there are two main types of
geocoding: address geocoding and spatial geocoding. Address geocoding uses the values
of address fields such as street, city, state or province, and postal code to attempt to
position a record. It requires a specialized database that gives the position of various
address ranges for different streets. Spatial geocoding, on the other hand, matches the
values of records in a database table with field values in the table of an available drawing
(postal code, provinces, regions, counties or other geographic entities). The spatial layout
and locations of the drawing objects are used to determine locations for records that

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match object data fields. Spatial geocoding has the advantage of allowing spatial matches
to any available drawing.
Geocoding often involves assigning a location, usually in the form of coordinate values to
an address by comparing the descriptive locator elements in the addresses to those
present in the reference material. The starting and ending addresses are assumed to be at
the end of the link. Based on the location of the geographically coded points on the line
we may calculate approximately where the address should occur on the network link. A
linear interpolation beginning at the starting address and adding a length proportional to
the address divided by the address range is employed to estimate the location of the
geocoded address.

6.1.1 Geocoding Applications

Geocoding is commonly applied for business sales, marketing and other applications, in
vehicle dispatch and delivery operations, and for organizing census and other government
information gathering and dissemination activities (Bolstad 2005, Crosier 2004).
Geocoding is crucially important in customer data management. It allows organizations
to convert any personal information of their customers into maps and other digital data
formats. Such information can be used for establishing marketing strategies, targeting
specific clusters of customers or for periodic route maps and directions. Geocoded
addresses are used to spatially display the address locations and existing patterns in the
information.
Moreover, geocoding and geographic information systems technology are increasingly
used in public health research and practices (Krieger and Zierler 2001, Krieger et al.
2003) and in the analysis of crime (Ratcliffe 2004). It is however cautioned (Krieger and
Zierler 2001) that geocoding can involve any size of error like any other measurement
data. Addresses can be incorrectly recorded (e.g., misspelled street name) or correctly
recorded but assigned the wrong geocode (e.g., latitude, longitude, census block group, or
census tract errors). Bowen (2004) lists 5 major sources of errors which could have
profound influence on the cost and accuracy of geocoding.

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6.1.2 The Geocoding Workflow
Geocoding practices involve several steps that are referred to as the geocoding work
flow. For successful geocoding these steps (Table 1) should be followed.

Building or obtaining reference data

Obtain and make any needed modifications to the reference material to coincide
with address locator style requirements.

Determining address locator style

Select an address locator style that accommodates your address data and
reference data material as well as produces the desired output information.

Building an address locator

Based on a specific address locator style, create an address locator,
incorporating the style-specific guidelines and your reference data.

Locating addresses
Using your address locator, search for an individual address or perform a batch
search, locating a group of addresses.

Publishing, maintaining, or customizing your address locator

A wide range of functions are possible including the distribution, updating, and
customization of your address locator.

Table 1. The geocoding workflow

Source: Crosier 2004.

6.1.3 Geocoding procedures

McCarthy and Ratcliffe (2005) note that the techniques of geocoding include manual
recording of the x, y coordinates, digitizing/scanning a paper map and raster-to-vector
conversion of features in image. The ArcCatalog of ArcGIS contains all the tools
required for geocoding exercises. According to Crosier (2004) geocoding in ArcCatalog
involves:
a) Organizing reference and address data: Reference and address materials are
organized and managed as feature classes and tables.

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British Columbia Institute of Technology Project Proposal 2006
 b) Creating address locators: Address locators are data-specific tools for geocoding
and are created in ArcCatalog.
c) Geocoding tables of addresses: Tables containing addresses are created in or
imported into ArcCatalog.
d) Publishing address locators to share with other users: Geocoding information and
applications can be collected and distributed by using ArcCatalog tools.
e) Presentation of geocoded addresses: Geocoded results are visually interpreted and
presented with a variety of ArcMap tools. These tools are often used for
manipulating symbology, scale dependence and classification based on specific
characteristics of each point location.

7.0 Project Dataset

The datasets of the project on School Districts are drawn from throughout the USA (and
its dependencies) and Canada. The details on the specific locations and extent of the
dataset are still not clearly defined. The preliminary decision was to include the analysis
of the following dataset during the project implementation (see Table 2).
Dataset Type Version Why Projection Where It Source Data
Needed Is Format
School Polygon ArcView Updating Not Not Sponsor ArcGIS
Zones & 3.2 Specified Specified Geodata
Street
Network
School Polygon ArcView Current Not Not Sponsor ArcGIS
Zones & 9.1 Geocoding Specified Specified Geodata
Street
Network
Avenue Script Not Reference Sponsor Avenue
Routine specified Script
scripts

Table 2. Geocoding project datasets

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8.0 Data Dictionary
The data dictionary of this project is not made available at this particular time. It will be
created after the project data is accepted from the sponsor.

9.0 Work Breakdown Structure

The current geocoding project will accomplish the following tasks sequentially,
simultaneously and/or at predefined temporal arrangements. Detailed breakdown of the
project activities is presented in Table 3.

Task Task Name Estimated hours Resources Needed

Number total work
1 Defining the Scope of the Project Negussie, Supervisor, Sponsor
1.1 Identify and set required data type 8 Negussie, Supervisor, Sponsor
1.2 Consultation with sponsor and course 5 Negussie, Supervisor, Sponsor
supervisor
1.3 Familiarize myself with ArcObjects & 15 Negussie, Supervisor
Avenue Routine
2. Dataset acquisition, cleaning and Negussie,Sponsor
importing
2.1 Set size of dataset 5 Negussie,Supervisor
2.2 Acquire dataset 2 Negussie,Sponsor"
2.3 Evaluate, clean and organize the dataset 8 Negussie,Supervisor
2.4 Import the dataset into ArcObjects 3 Negussie
2.5 Checking data consistence & 3 "Negussie,Supervisor
completeness
2.6 Study the features and attributes of each 3 Negussie
dataset
3 ArcObject Customization Negussie,Supervisor,Sponsor,Li
terature,Internet
3.1 Identify script variables and their 5 Negussie,Supervisor
relationships
3.2 Create custom scripts and programs to 76 Negussie,Supervisor
convert old geofile
3.3 Run the custom GUI, check errors, 15 Negussie,Supervisor
polish and refine the program, run
queries and analysis

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3.4 Check the accuracy of the new geofile 10 Negussie,Supervisor
output
4 Presenting the result to the sponsor Negussie, Sponsor
4.1 Submitting the report to the sponsor and 1 Negussie, Negussie
acquiring feedback
4.2 Creating and integrating any arising 3 Negussie
adjustment needs
5 Literature review / internet browsing Negussie, Library, Internet
5.1 Enrich programming skill 40 Negussie, Library, Internet
5.2 Enrich geocoding skill 15 Negussie, Library, Internet
5.3 Contrast project output with other 20 Negussie, Library, Internet
similar works
6 Documenting project processes and Negussie
output
6.1 Bulletin board poster 15 Negussie, Supervisor
6.2 Final report writing 80 Negussie, Supervisor
7 Non-technical work Negussie
7.1 Consulting course supervisor 15 Negussie, Supervisor
7.2 Progress report writing 24 Negussie
7.3 Preparation and presentation of final 12 Negussie, Supervisor
result

Table 3: Project Work Breakdown Structure Table

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11.0 Project Methodology
In the following sections the specific tasks that are outlined in the WBS above will be
described briefly. The overall tasks will be presented in five sub sections. It is important
to note that the tasks and sequence of work plans outlined here are subject to
modifications to adjust to arising needs and new information. The research
methodologies described below are only preliminary directions and thus will be more
refined and detailed with better understanding of the nature of the project data.

11.1 Defining the Scope of the Project

This project will commence with the clear specification and detailed breakdown of the
required tasks and expected results. The project will launch only after the nature and type
of the current dataset is well studied and properly understood. Adequate discussions will
be held with the sponsor and the company to identify their specific needs and the
resources they have to make use of the project result. Likewise, there is a need to
adequately familiarize myself with ArcObjects and the way VB.NET is used for
programming in ArcObjects.

11.2 Adjusting Project Dataset

The project datasets that will be provided by the sponsor are created by different ArcGIS
software program versions. Although, these datasets are in the right format for ArcGIS
software, they need to be checked for errors and completeness. The formats and
projection information will be checked before starting any work on the data. If they lack
projection information or if they are in different coordinate systems, it is imperative to
acquire appropriate information, to define the right projection and to project all features
in one dataset into identical projection system before starting any data analysis and/or
editing work.
After all the necessary adjustments are performed on the acquired data, it will be loaded
into the latest version of ArcGIS. This will allow the researcher to visually analyze the
image and table formats of the data and compare the geocoding parameters used. The
various feature classes will be examined and the relationship between different feature
classes will be defined. The metadata of each feature class will be examined and updated.

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11.3 ArcObjects Customization
This stage requires loading the data into ArcObjects, writing the scripts in VB.NET
application and updating the old geocoding of address listing tables as well as street
network layer and a polygon layer. The processing of data automation will involve
creation of custom tools in the ArcObjects interface and writing VB.NET scripts and
programs for the new interface. The programming skills and knowledge acquired so far
are important assets for this project but not quite sufficient. New knowledge in
ArcObjects is still highly essential to successfully automate the old dataset and make
them fully meet the needs of the customers.
The functionally and appropriateness of the newly written scripts will be tested regularly.
This will also be accompanied by regular consultations with the course supervisor and
project sponsor to keep the project processes on the track. With acquaintance with more
ArcObjects functionalities, new tools will be imported and tested to improve the quality
of the output data. The suitability of ArcGIS tools and programming functionalities will
be checked against the Visual Basic programming application.

11.4 Acquiring Sponsor Feedback

After the project task is completed, the findings and all the accompanying procedures will
be presented to the sponsor and co-workers to check if the output meets the demands of
their customers. This will give the sponsor to evaluate the work done and to check if his
expectations are fulfilled. It will also create an important avenue for the researcher to get
constructive feedbacks and alternative approaches to address the most difficult parts of
the task, if there are any. This will be a good chance to get more real world GIS
application knowledge and skills.

11.5 Documentation of Project Outputs

The final part of the project implementation phase will be adequate documentation of the
project processes and final results. The project will involve regular and sequential
documentation of every procedure followed in implementing the project. A process
recording journal will be prepared to enter all detailed processes and activities. This will
also contain any intermediate and final feedbacks both from the course supervisor and
project sponsor.
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A final presentation will be done to publicize the project concepts, processes and
procedures as well as the achievements. This will play a double role of exposing the
results to the public on one hand, and receiving constructive suggestions from the
audience, on the other hand.

12.0 Conclusion
The Omega Group is one of the pioneer organizations in employing GIS technologies to
address diverse community and environmental needs. Among others, its designing of the
GIS software to aid decision-making in law enforcement, public safety, and public
education has won regional recognition and appreciation.
It should be borne in mind that much of the details of this project work are still not
available since formal contact with the sponsor has not been made yet. The exact extent
and details of the data has not yet been known.
Once the project is successfully planned and implemented, the Omega Group will greatly
benefit from the output by improving the accuracy and accessibility of up-to-date school
information both to the public and school administrators. This will have a great impact in
successful planning and in effective running of all school programs and ultimately
upgrade the standards of education in the target regions. Appropriate documentation of
the project report will help disseminate the project output to interested customers. The
whole project implementation process will take place between January and May and
involve a total of 360 allocated but more working hours. As initially conceived in the
project planning course overall objective, this will give me adequate opportunity to gain
practical experience and job-ready skills in the areas of programming, ArcObjects, and
geocoding. Graduates well quipped with practical skills never fail in the face of
increasing community and environmental demands to address ever more intricate and
harsher challenging problems.

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13.0 References

BOLSTAD, P. 2005. GIS fundamentals: A first text on geographic information systems.

2nd Edition. Eider Press, Minnesota.

BOWEN, Y. 2004. Geocoding Centrelines for the City of Port Coquitlam. BCIT GIS
Student Practicum Proposal. BCIT, GIS. 12 pp.

CROSIER, S. 2004. ArcGIS 9: Geocoding in ArcGIS. ESRI, New York. 185 pp.

KRIEGER, N., CHEN, J.T., WATERMAN, P.D., REHKOPF, D.H. and

SUBRAMANIAN, S.V. 2003. Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Monitoring
Socioeconomic Gradients in Health: A Comparison of Area-Based
Socioeconomic Measures—The Public Health Disparities. Geocoding Project.
American Journal of Public Health 93, 1655-1671.

KRIEGER, N., WATERMAN, P., LEMIEUX, K., ZIERLER, S., and HOGAN, J.W.,
2001. On the wrong side of the tracts? Evaluating the accuracy of geocoding in
public health research. American Journal of Public Health, 91, 1114-1116.

MANIFOLD. Geocoding. Available online at:

http://www.manifold.net/doc/7x/manifold.htm#geocoding.htm (accessed 18
November 2006).

McCARTHY, T. and RATCLIFFE, J. 2005. Garbage in garbage: Geocoding accuracy

and spatial analysis of crime. In Geographic information system and crime
analysis, F. Wang (ed.), pp. 45-59. (Hershey: Idea Group Publishing, 2005).

RATCLIFFE, J.H., 2004. Geocoding crime and a first estimate of a minimum

acceptable hit rate. International Journal of Geographical Information Science,
18, 61-72.

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