In ArcGIS 2.7, the Generate Parcel Links geoprocessing tool only works with a branch versioned Parcel Fabric using web services. Please also allow this tool to work against a Parcel Fabric stored in a file geodatabase.
In ArcMap, we stored a vector for each time a point moved. The downside was that the vector table gets bloated very quickly.
In the new Parcel Fabric, we leverage the temporal nature of Branch Versioning. By comparing the location of each point in 2 different moments in time we are able to generate a 'link' or an 'anchor point' without having to store vectors.
File geodatabase does not have any archiving/temporal capabilities.
With Attribute Rules you can create a rule on the points feature that will write to your vector table every time a point moves.
Or submit another idea to enable temporal capabilities and 'moments' on File Geodatabases.
Thanks for clarifying the manner in which the geoprocessing is working. I had assumed that it was more like an automated way to create links between disparate features similar to the spatial adjust where individual vectors (links) are created on the fly to denote similarities between features and allow the adjustment of one feature to match another.
Your description implies that there must be some relationship between the feature classes prior to any adjustment of the parcel fabric points. Is that correct, or even required? I assumed that no relationship was needed and the tool performs a search for vertices within tolerance and connects them. I see now that the tool does not that way.
There are tools in the 'Conflation toolset' that generate links based on the geometry of the source and the target datasets like the Generate Rubbersheet Links tool.
Branch versioning has temporal capabilities: you can specify any moment in time and view the data in that specific moment (geometry and attributes). Every feature is uniquely identified by a GlobalID.
So the "secret sauce" of the tool is basically comparing the point location in 2 moments in time.
In the new parcel fabric we do not have any hidden tables and no hidden relationship classes.
Links are not created between vertices, only between points. If you have related data it would not be a bad idea to introduce vertices based on the location of parcel points using the geoprocessing tool like Integrate or using geodatabase topology (cracking). This would improve the results of spatial adjustment.
