Latest Contributions by DanielStone

As a child my mother used to tell me at dinnertime that I had to try something at least three times before I could say I didn't like it.  Broccoli was one of those vegetables I just didn’t like.  She never forced me to eat it, but I could not say I didn’t like broccoli until I gave it a fair chance.   One day she introduced Broccoli with cheese sauce.   I wanted that cheese sauce, but she had already poured it over the broccoli.  The only way for me to get the cheese sauce was to try the broccoli.    Surprisingly, I found the al dente broccoli with the cheese sauce quite enjoyable, and it became one of my favorite side dishes.  As I read through the comments on the Parcel Fabric community site regarding the COGO Reader tool being only available with the Parcel Fabric, I’m taken back to my mom telling me that I can’t say I don’t like it unless I try it.   Many of the comments say “I don’t manage parcels, I manage easements” or I manage leases, or Right-of-Ways.   The ArcGIS Parcel Fabric is designed to manage the Rights, Responsibilities, and Restrictions (3 Rs) of land.   Easements, leases, Right-of-Ways, are all different descriptions of the 3Rs.    Some of you may have investigated or may have even used the ArcMap Parcel Fabric.   The ArcMap Parcel Fabric had its challenges.  So did coverages and shapefiles.   Each release, each advancement in technology brings changes to the way we manage data.  You are probably telling yourself “Yea, Yea, Yea…I don’t have time for an upgrade, nor do I want to change my schema.”  The good news is that you don’t.  For example, let’s assume you are managing Pipeline easements in a Dataset named Pipelines, and a feature class named PipeEasements.  Just name your Parcel Type “PipeEasements”.  “But what about my attributes, Now I have to redefine all my attributes on the new PipeEasements feature class.”  That is as simple as Copying and Pasting from Source to Target.  I encourage you to watch this video on How to create a Parcel Fabric in Six Easy Steps.    How to Create a Parcel Fabric in Six Easy Steps The goal of the parcel fabric team was to make it as easy as possible to implement the Parcel Fabric.  Another argument I hear is “Yea, but I don’t have time to contact customer service and get a license for the Parcel Fabric.”  Well, the good news is that you don’t.  The ArcGIS Parcel Fabric capability is a core part of ArcGIS.  If you are using ArcGIS Pro, standard or advanced, today, you have the ability to create a Parcel Fabric just as I did in the video referenced above.  You may be telling yourself “What else would I expect to hear from the Parcel Fabric Product Manager”.   Then, don’t take my word on the benefits of the Parcel Fabric.  Instead read the following articles by Gary Schrock, a licensed surveyor and geospatial technology writer based in the Pacific Northwest. from the March and April issues of xyHt magazine. Advancements in Parcel Mapping Tools – Part 1 Advancements in Parcel Mapping Tools – Part 2 To quote Gary “Whether a parcel map is created for an engineering project, land development, valuation, tax assessment, land administration and management, for a subdivision, city, county, or whole country, the tools to create and manage them have dramatically improved.” Still not convinced of the benefits of the Parcel Fabric?   Wouldn’t it be nice to have a System of Record that can be maintained through collaboration with other teams?  Maybe a team of drafters that are proficient in drawing within AutoCAD.  The ArcGIS Parcel Fabric also brings that capability.   If this scenario is appealing to you, I encourage you to read the ArcGIS Blog by Michael Davidson, Dan Wade, and Jason Camerano linked below. Connect GIS and CAD teams on parcel fabric workflows using ArcGIS for AutoCAD The ArcGIS Parcel Fabric is Esri’s Land Information Management Solution and as such is where we are concentrating our efforts in development resources and R&D.  ArcGIS Pro 3.5 is the version that introduces COGO Reader.  There is additional functionality planned for COGO Reader as we have many great ideas coming from the user community.   If you regularly attend and are part of the Parcel Fabric Meet-ups,  you know we often speak about the functionality implemented from user’s ideas.  As of this writing, the ArcGIS Parcel Fabric is in its 5th year of production release.  There have been many improvements since its initial release with ArcGIS Pro 2.4 in summer of 2019.  Additional tools and functionality will continue to improve as more users and organizations adopt it to maintain their land system of record.  As I conclude this blog post, I’m reminded of those words from my mother “You can’t say you don’t like it unless you try it.”  ... View more

Many users have expressed interest in accessing parcel fabric functionality, such as the COGO Reader, outside of the parcel fabric environment. When I ask, "Have you tried the Parcel Fabric?" I often do not receive a response. It's important to note that the term "Parcel" in Parcel Fabric is used in its broadest sense. It does not exclusively refer to tax parcels found in an assessor's office. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a parcel is defined as a tract or plot of land. I invite you to spend just eleven minutes with me to discover how simple it is to create a parcel fabric in just six easy steps.     ... View more

Topic: What's New - ArcGIS Parcel Fabric for ArcGIS Pro 3.6! Time: Nov 18, 2025 09:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Webinar https://esri.zoom.us/j/91916778835?pwd=Rm2F78h1499Qb79qv6mQ5Gi7Pb9wUR.1 Webinar ID: 919 1677 8835 Passcode: 490279 Join us for an exciting demonstration of the enhanced capabilities of the ArcGIS Parcel Fabric in ArcGIS Pro 3.6. We will showcase refinements to the Alignment tool, introduce opt-in support for Subtypes, and explore the new Simplify by Tangent Segments feature, among other enhancements. Don't miss this opportunity to see how these updates can elevate your parcel maintenance workflows! Topic: What's New - ArcGIS Parcel Fabric for ArcGIS Pro 3.6! Time: Nov 18, 2025 09:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Webinar https://esri.zoom.us/j/91916778835?pwd=Rm2F78h1499Qb79qv6mQ5Gi7Pb9wUR.1 Webinar ID: 919 1677 8835 Passcode: 490279 ... View more

  Good day Parcel Aficionados, With the release of ArcGIS Pro 3.5, the parcel fabric team has introduced the COGO Reader Tool.   COGO Reader is a new tool designed to assist editors that enter metes and bounds to describe land boundaries.   Here is a short video of Jason Camerano demonstrating the advantages this tool can provide when entering deeds.  https://link.esri.com/ParcelFabric/COGOReader   Enjoy   Dan Stone   ... View more

Greeting Parcel Fabric Aficionados,  It is hard to believe that we are coming to the end of 2023.   2023 has been a full year with the release of ArcGIS Pro 3.1  in February and ArcGIS Pro 3.2 released in November.    ArcGIS Pro 3.1 brought us enhancements to the Parcel Fabric Record's HUD, and the ability to generate title maps for selected parcels.   ArcGIS Pro 3.2  brought us the ability to use link charts for parcel lineage depiction and offline parcel fabrics.   The features, functionality, and enhancements are suggested and created for you.   How are we doing?   Here is your chance to let the parcel fabric team know what you like, dislike, and hope to see in future releases.  Please take a few minutes to complete this survey.  2023 ArcGIS Parcel Fabric End of Year Survey  I've added a few extra questions this year.  I appreciate and value your time, it should only take a few minutes to complete. I've left several questions as open text so you can feel free to provide as much feedback as you'd like.  From all of us on the ArcGIS Parcel Fabric team, we wish you well as we end this year and look forward to 2024.  Happy Holidays! The ArcGIS Parcel Fabric Team ... View more

Recently some users have reported incompatibility between annotation created in ArcGIS Pro 2.x and ArcGIS Pro 3.x.   This document explains what is supported at the different releases of ArcGIS.   Compatibility of Annotation between ArcGIS Pro 2.x and 3.x Those that are maintaining annotation should be aware of the incompatibility between ArcGIS Pro 2.x and ArcGIS Pro 3.x.  Note that this is true for both standard and feature-linked annotation. Annotation is a feature, stored within an annotation feature class within the Geodatabase.  As with other feature classes, an annotation feature class stores the geographic location and attributes.  Beginning with ArcGIS Pro 3.0, the storage of annotation has been modified to support the full cartographic model of ArcGIS Pro.  If you are maintaining an ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9.1 and have upgraded to ArcGIS Pro 3.0.x, or 3.1.x, you will be able to edit the annotation created with ArcGIS Pro 2.x.  Newer properties of the ArcGIS Pro 3.x annotation are relatively minor and will be downgraded to the ArcGIS Pro 2.x version when written to the geodatabase.    Once Upgraded, you cannot go back.  Once the annotation feature class that was created in ArcGIS Pro 2.x is upgraded to ArcGIS Pro 3.x, it will no longer be compatible with Pre-3.0 version of ArcGIS Pro.    Once upgraded, the annotation feature class is no longer usable in previous versions. Feature classes linked to the annotation are read-only in previous versions. Feature classes in the same feature dataset as the upgraded annotation are also read-only in previous versions. Refer to the annotation compatibility table in the documentation to understand the different versions of annotation.  In Summary If you have users that will continue to use, access, and edit annotation created with ArcGIS pro 2.x, you can continue to publish from ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9.1, 11.0, or 11.1 while accessing it from ArcGIS Pro 3.x.  However, once the annotation is upgraded (using the Upgrade Dataset Tool), it will no longer be available for use in previous versions.        ... View more