Setting up Geocoding for Service Locations

Geocoding for service locations

In order for service locations to display on the Schedule Map, each location needs to have latitude and longitude coordinates. Use the Geocoding window to assign these coordinates quickly using the mapping system that you have set up to use with Schedule (Bing or Google Maps). You can select to display only those service locations that don't have coordinates or you can display all service locations. Displaying all the service locations will not overwrite any previously-entered values.

The Geocoding process is paginated as some users may have thousands of service locations. The lower left corner provides the option to display 20, 50, or 100 results on the page. The lower right corner displays "Page 1 of x (x items)" at the lower right corner along with the page numbers. The selected page number is highlighted. Geocoding only processes the current page. For example, if you have 500 service addresses and you've set the system to display 100 results, you will have five pages of service addresses. If you select the Mark All checkbox, you are only selecting the 100 service locations on the currently displayed page. You will need to process each page separately to complete the geocoding process on all service locations.

The Mapping API that is set up in Schedule Settings is used to obtain the coordinates. If you do not have a Bing or Google API key, you will be limited to 2500 records per day. If you select to display all locations (by marking All Addresses) and you elect to fetch coordinates for a location where the geocode already exists, that location will be reprocessed and the latitude/longitude values will be rewritten in the location table even if the coordinates did not change.

To obtain service location coordinates:

1. In Schedule, select the menu icon.
2. Select Geocoding.
3. From the Entity drop-down, select Location.
4. Select the Address Field that contains the street address for the entity. The Address1 field may contain non-street address content (for example, a post office box number), so those locations can be processed by using Address2 or Address3 fields. The geocoding process requires a street address to determine the latitude and longitude.
   • Address1
   • Address2
   • Address3
5. To display only service locations that don't currently have coordinates assigned, leave All Addresses? set to Off. However if you want to display all service locations, including those with coordinates already assigned, toggle All Addresses? to On. 

6. Select Fetch Address to display the Service Locations. 

7. The following columns display: 
   • Customer Number
     This displays the Customer ID assigned in Signature.
   • Location Number
     This displays the Address ID assigned in Signature.
   • Address
     This displays the address in either the Address1, Address2, or Address3 field, depending on the selection from the Address field.
   • City/State/Postal Code
     Displays the City, State, and Postal Code from Signature.
   • Latitude/Longitude
     Displays existing latitude and longitude values, if the location has previously been processed for geocoding.
   • Result
     This column displays information after Fetch Coordinates is run. 
     • Success displays for successfully obtaining the coordinates.
     • If there is an issue with obtaining the coordinates, the actual error message displays from the mapping system that you have set up (Google Maps or Bing Maps).

8. Mark the checkbox(es) to the left of the service locations that you want to fetch the coordinates for. You can mark/unmark all items checkboxes on the current page by marking the checkbox in the header section to the right of the Customer Number header title.  

9. Select Fetch Coordinates to obtain the latitude and longitude coordinates for the marked service locations. 

10. To save the latitude and longitude coordinates to the service location record, select Update Coordinates. 

    
    

Filtering, sorting, and rearranging data

Use your mouse to drag or select options below:

• Group
  To group the display by a column, select a column header and drag this to the area labeled Drag a column header to the group location to group the results by that column located to the top left of the columns. To undo the grouping, drag the column header back to anywhere on the grid, the column header returns automatically to its original location.

• Sort order
  Select the column header to change the sort order. A small triangle points to indicate if the sorting is ascending (A-Z) or descending (Z-A). Hold the Shift key when selecting headers to sort against multiple columns simultaneously.

• Filter
  Select the lookup to select a filter type (contains, does not contain, starts with, ends with, equals, does not equal) and enter the value in the field to the right of the lookup. To clear the filters, select the Clear Filter icon located in the in the top right corner.
• Column Order
  Drag the column headers to the left or right to change the column order. The Customer and Location columns each have a main column header that lets you drag all three columns (Notes, Name, ID) at the same time. You can also rearrange the Notes, Name, and ID columns beneath both the Customer and Location headers.
• Scrolling
  A horizontal scrollbar is hidden until you hover with your mouse at the bottom of the grid. When the horizontal scrollbar displays, you can drag the bar to view more columns. A vertical scrollbar is automatically displayed.

Exporting data

You have the option to export all data or specific rows to an Excel file. Exporting location addresses from the geocoding window is useful however this is most useful when the geocoding API returns error information that makes it impossible to successfully geocode a location address. By exporting these locations, you will have a working list of location records to be corrected to resolve “bad” or missing address information.

It is important to note that:

• If you select Export all data, this is ALL records, not just the displayed page of records. If you have 20,000 records and select to export all, they will all be included in the Excel file.
• To export only the displayed page of records, select the Mark All checkbox in the header section. This only marks the records on the current page. Then select Export select rows.
• You can also mark specific rows on multiple pages and export only those rows.

To export the data:

1. In Schedule, select the menu icon.

2. Select Geocoding.
3. On the far left side of the window, select the Export icon.

4. From the menu, select either Export all data or Export select rows.

5. Select the download location and then select Save.