Highlight gaps and overlaps tool not working after "upgrade"

[Michele]

My agency just upgraded to ArcPro 3.3.1 and the highlight gaps and overlaps tool no longer allows me to select a layer (polygon feature class) to check.  Did something change with the tool or is this a bug??

[DanPatterson]

This may be pertinent

BUG-000168746 for ArcGIS Pro

[Michele]

Ugh!!  Why does esri always change things that work and help QC datasets. I never even heard of a parcel fabric polygon layer. Do you or anyone else  know if there is another easy way to check for gaps and overlaps??  I cannot use parcel fabric bc it my dataset is a versioned feature class in an enterprise database. 

[Eugene_Adkins]

Maybe the Find Overlaps tool will help? There seems to be a difference between it and the Gaps and Overlaps tool.

[Michele]

Thanks for the suggestion Eugene.  I tried this and in addition to it only finding overlaps (and I'm not convinced it found them all) it's a very cumbersome way to do it compared to the simplistic tool that was available before.  It seems like it's now incorporated into this parcel fabric workflow which is way beyond what I need it for.  My polygons are not parcels and it worked perfectly.  I wish they would just bring it back so you could do a fast check for gaps and overlaps in any dataset like it was.

@KoryKrameris my assumption that the finds gaps and overlaps tool is now only available as part of  the parcel fabric layer and there is no other way to utilize it?

[AmirBar-Maor]

The Highlight Gaps and Overlaps tool help documentation clearly states that the tool is designed to find gaps and overlaps between parcels. 

Did you consider using the Data Reviewer Extension (list of data reviewer checks) to detect gaps and overlaps?

@Michele - what is your use case? What do your polygons represent?

[Michele]

@AmirBar-MaorI see that it says parcels in the documentation even going back to 3.2 which is what I was using it on until recently. I'm assuming that was a bug in that and previous versions since it had been working even though the polys I had weren't "parcels".

The data validation tool seems just as cumbersome as setting up my polys as parcels so I'd be able to use the highlight gaps and overlaps tool.  The way it worked in 3.2 was ideal for a quick look to find things that aren't aligned.  I have several people editing the feature class and they are not GIS saavy, but they need to do it.  Even though I explain to them that they have to make sure the polys are aligned, they don't know how to do all the checks and likely don't care since they just want to get done what they need it for.

All I can say about the data is that it represents areas on the ground.

[AmirBar-Maor]

@Michele 

The first release of the Highlight Gaps and Overlaps contained some bugs that we fixed in later releases. This included allowing the tool to work on non-parcel features. Since then we have also enhanced the tool to work on multiple parcel layers, check between different parcel layers and added a geoprocessing tool for automation.
The parcel fabric is designed to manage 'parcels' in the broader cadastral sense. Those are often referred to as the 3 'R's = Rights, Restrictions, and Responsibilities. They are used to manage things like ownership, leases, encumbrances (easements), zoning ... as well as administrative parcels. If your data falls into one of those categories you'll be happy to learn that migrating your data to the parcel fabric is an easy process and that any editing tool you already use can be used against the parcel fabric + (as you have found the hard way) many more useful tools can capabilities.

Apologies for not locking that tool in our first release. We did not expect non-parcels users to find and utilize it.

[Michele]

@AmirBar-Maor That's too bad because it was really useful to quickly see if there were gaps/overlaps in any polygon dataset without having to run some elaborate GP tool.

[Michele]

@AmirBar-Maoris there a good resource on how to use data reviewer for polygons?  I've searched the web and at least found how to get to the attribute rules (ArcPro help is not helpful when you don't even know how to get to it).  For some reason the "features to compare" drop down that is in the polygon overlap is sliver rule doesn't have anything in it and I cannot figure out why, thus making this tool useless bc it's a required field.