Preparing the Data
First we will need to work with the data file (Excel) that will be geocoded. Data to be used is provided at: Click Here . If another data set of chosen, it should either be comma delimitated text file or a Microsoft Excel file. This module will assume that an Excel file of the proper format will be used. The file will need to have fields for name (or other identifier), address, city, state, and five digit zip code. Additional information can be contained in the file and will remain with the geocoded data when the shapefile is created. The data that is provided in this module is a list of Kentucky doctors from the Kentucky Medical Association. This list is provided for use in this module only and may not be given or used for any other purposes. Field names in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet must have no spaces or special symbols and if they do they must be replaced before attempting to use the file. The original spreadsheet has been modified and the spaces were replaced with the underline symbol. This replacement was accomplished using Microsoft Excel and there is no reason to repeat the operation. If the data has nine digit zip codes the field must be split into two fields, one containing the first five digits and the other containing the last four digits, only the first five digits will be used, this modification was also made to the data source.