Create the gazetteer locator

To create a gazetteer locator from the NGA geonames file:

Create a new file geodatabase.
Copy the GeonamesTemplate feature class from the data\Geonames file geodatabase located in the template to the new file geodatabase.
Rename the copied GeonamesTemplate feature class to a name of your choice.
Run the Load Geonames File tool located in the toolbox to create features in your geonames feature class from the contents of the downloaded NGA geonames text file.

Note

The tables for the Country Code Table, Administrative Code Table, and the Feature Code Tables tool parameters can be found in the data\Geonames file geodatabase provided in the template.

Caution

Do not use this tool to load more than one geonames text file into the same feature class; duplication of features will result. Either append all geonames text files into a single text file before running this tool or load each text file into separate feature classes and use the Merge tool found in the Data Management toolbox to combine these multiple datasets into a single, new output dataset.
Run the Create Geonames Gazetteer Locator tool located in the toolbox to create a gazetteer locator from the populated geonames feature class.

The locator can now be used in ArcMap or ArcGIS Pro to find locations. See Resources for more information.

You can also publish the locator as a geocode service to ArcGIS for Server using ArcMap, which allows internet or intranet users to use the geocode service in web applications, ArcGIS for Desktop, ArcGIS Online, and other client applications. See Sharing an address locator as a geocode service for more information.