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.”
