Which attribute is essential for creating a place-name locator?

To create a place-name locator, having reference data with a name field is crucial. Reference data serves as the foundational dataset that contains the geographic locations and their corresponding names. This data is what the locator uses to match user-inputted names to actual geographic features. The name field specifically identifies the names of the places within the reference data, allowing the locator to interpret search queries accurately and return relevant geographical locations.

While search data, alias data, and feature class data can play roles in enhancing the locator's functionality or expand its capabilities, they are not essential for the basic creation of a place-name locator itself. The core requirement is to start with robust reference data that provides the necessary attributes to enable effective name matching and location retrieval.