Within the parcel fabric our organization maintains, we store control points for the entire province. Keeping these control points up to date requires regularly ingesting a control feature class containing 10s of thousands of control points and only updating the changed points in our parcel fabric. Previously in ArcMap, this workflow was accomplished using the ‘Load control points’ tool. Our organization is now in the process of migrating to ArcGIS Pro.
The ‘Import Parcel Fabric Points’ tool in ArcGIS Pro is missing some key functionality for it to be used as a replacement in our workflow. In its current state, the ‘Import parcel fabric points’ tool is better suited to importing small numbers of points in a single plan, rather than a large number of control points throughout a whole province.
There are several important enhancements that would help make the ‘Import Parcel Fabric Points’ tool more suitable for importing a large number of control points:
- Additional Matching Methods:
- Proximity Match based on XYZ Attributes: Allow the matching of existing control points based on the XYZ attributes rather than shape geometry. This will make it easier to update points that have been moved without having to manually match them.
- Match based on Attribute Only: Allow the ability to match points based on a field only (such as the Name field), not proximity. This would make it easier to update a large number of existing points quickly using a known unique attribute without the need for computationally expensive proximity calculations.
- Additional Optional Parameters:
- Update Attributes Only: Allow the ability to update only the attributes of the points, including the XYZ attributes, without updating the geometry. This will reduce the risk of unintended changes to the parcel fabric
- Detailed Logging: Provide more detailed logging options that include information about what points have changed and how they have changed. This will make it easier to identify any issues that may arise. With the ArcMap ‘Load Control Points’ tool it was possible to output a Log Results file, this functionality would be beneficial in ArcGIS Pro as well.
By incorporating these enhancements into the ‘Import Parcel Fabric Points’ tool, our organization will be able to more efficiently update our parcel fabric control and reduce the risk of errors or unintended changes.