Alternative place names

There are many instances where a single place (identified by a unique place_id) has multiple names associated with it.

In the Places feature class, the all_place_names contains a list of all the place_names associated with the place_id.

A table the locator uses as a source of alternative names or aliases, which get indexed and are available for locator search contains the alternative place names as well. These aliases are generally variants of the place name, potentially also superseded names or non-English versions.

If the place name you enter matches with an alternative name, then the locator returns the alternative name as the matched place name (Match_addr) together with the address and contact details from the primary record including the primary name for the place (PRIMARY_PLACE_NAME). You can always know whether the locator matches an alias or primary name by comparing these two returned fields. If these are the same then it was the primary name matched by the locator.