A composite locator consists of two or more individual locators or geocode services. When addresses are geocoded against the composite locator, they are automatically matched against each of the individual locators and services. The MD Composite Locatoe contains Maryland specific data sources for geocoding.
Please visit the How to use composite locator document for instructions on connecting and using the locator.
The data for the Composite Locator comes from a number of Federal, State and Local sources. They include individual counties and municipalities, Maryland Department of Planning, Maryland State Highway Administration, and the U.S. Geologic Survey. Please visit the Composite Locator Data Sources page view to the full list of datasets and sources.
The Composite Locator “cascades” through each participating data set to find the best match of the address you are trying to locate. Our locator contains Address Points, which match a search to a point on top of a building. Address Points are the most accurate data set in the locator.
No, currently the composite locator only includes locations within Maryland. The GIO is actively investigating including non-Maryland data sources to the MD Composite Locator.
The locator is updated at least once in every 3 months with new address, centerline ranges and parcel data.
Google and Bing Maps can interpolate non existent addresses to the closest existing address range, the MD Composite Locator is designed to match only the addresses that are in existence.
Please contact the GIO Office at service.desk@maryland.gov for more information.
You can geocode your addresses using the batch geocoder by uploading the addresses in a spreadsheet format.
The composite locator supports both single line and multi-line geocoding. You can learn more about it here.
Back to Composite Locator Overview