ArcWeb Services includes several automated data sources. The "auto" data source is a composite of multiple other data sources for the same Web service. If you specify “auto” as the data source, the data source is chosen automatically for you. The auto data source determines the country/region of the request and selects a data source based on that information; if there are multiple data sources for that location, it tries each one until a successful match is obtained.
Address Finder, Address Manager, Place Finder and Route Finder Web Services support multiple data sources in one request, allowing you to create your own auto data source.
The same methodology is used for each SOAP auto data source. The country code indicates the country for the address. If there is no country code, Place Finder Web Service looks up the city+state or city to select an appropriate data source. The country from the first place finder result is used for the request. Note that this might not be the correct city. (For example, the Australian street address "171, James Street, Northbridge" does not return any features because Northbridge, Massachusetts, is ranked higher than Northbridge, Australia, and there is no “James Street” in Northbridge, Massachusetts). ESRI recommends that you always add the country code or name to a request; this speeds up the request and provides a more accurate response.
There are auto data sources for the following functionality:
NOTE: For the SOAP API, auto data sources are available only for v2006.1 Web Services.
The SOAP Address Finder, Address Manager and Place Finder auto data sources automatically select the appropriate data source and try multiple data sources where applicable.
The SOAP Address Finder, Address Manager, and Place Finder Web Services support multiple data sources in one request. This allows you to create your own auto data source. You can send one request and, if the first data source fails, the next one in the request is tried until a successful match is obtained.
Pricing is based on the actual data source used. There is no cost for attempted requests that fail.
The ArcWeb Explorer JavaScript API and ArcWeb Explorer Flex API have an automated bam (best available map) data source option for the vectorGroupLayer. Based on the geographic extent of the request, this option chooses the appropriate data source for the request from four data sources. See ArcWeb Explorer JavaScript data sources and ArcWeb Explorer Flex data sources for details.
The REST API has an automated bam data source option for map requests. This option selects the best available data source from four data sources based on the extent of the map. See the REST ds parameter for details.
The SOAP Route Finder auto data source automatically selects the appropriate data source for a route and tries multiple data sources where applicable.
The SOAP Route Finder Web Service supports multiple data sources in one request. This allows you to create your own auto data source. You can send one request and, if the first data source fails, the next one in the request is tried until a successful match is obtained.
Pricing is based on the actual data source used. There is no cost for attempted requests that fail.
The SOAP Utility auto data source automatically selects the appropriate drive time data source and tries multiple data sources where applicable.
The SOAP Utility Web Service supports multiple data sources in one request. This allows you to create your own auto data source. You can send one request and, if the first data source fails, the next one in the request is tried until a successful match is obtained.
Pricing is based on the actual data source used. There is no cost for attempted requests that fail.
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