Tutorial: Running a fabric least-squares adjustment
This topic applies to ArcGIS for Desktop Standard and ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced only.
This tutorial describes a general workflow for a parcel fabric least-squares adjustment. The adjustment uses the stored bearings and distances on the parcel lines—together with the control point coordinates—to obtain a best-fit solution of all the points in the selected network. In this tutorial, the control points have already been entered and linked to their corresponding fabric points. When a fabric adjustment is run, an adjustment summary is displayed. The adjustment summary displays information about how well line dimensions (COGO attributes) have adjusted to the best-fit solution. The summary also enables you to identify any problems or errors with the parcel data that may need to be corrected. Once errors have been corrected, the adjustment can be applied to the fabric points in the selected network. The adjustment is run repeatedly until the maximum displacement in the northings and eastings are close to zero, meaning that the adjustment has converged onto an optimal solution.
- Open ArcMap and load the Parcel Editing map document (ParcelEditing.mxd) from your \ArcTutor\Parcel Editing\ folder.
- Zoom to the fabric adjustment area shown below or click the Bookmarks menu and click Fabric Adjustment Area.
- Click the Parcel Editor arrow and click Start Editing.
- Click the Maintain Control Points tool
on the Parcel Editor toolbar.
- Click the Check Fit button.
- Close the Control dialog box.
- Click the Select Parcel Features tool
on the Parcel Editor toolbar and drag a box to select all the parcels in the fabric adjustment area.
- Click the Parcel Editor arrow and click Adjust.
- On the Adjust Coordinates dialog box, type a value of 0.100 US Survey Feet for the Distances residuals tolerance.
- Leave both post-processing options unchecked. Post-processing is done once adjustment shifts have converged to 0.00
- Accept all other defaults on the Adjust Coordinates dialog box and click Run.
- Scroll down the report to find the heading Parcel lines residuals report - Difference between computed and recorded values.
- Click Results File to access the results file of the adjustment summary.
- Click Cancel to close the Least Squares Adjustment Summary dialog box.
- Click Cancel to close the Adjust Coordinates dialog box.
- Using the Select Parcel Features tool
, drag an empty box on the map display to clear the selection of the parcels that were adjusted.
- Click the Point Report tool
to open the Point Report dialog box.
- If necessary, move the Point Report dialog box so that all the adjustment parcels are visible.
- On the Point Report dialog box, click the one point button and type 876 in the Point ID text box.
- Click the Report button.
- Click the Map Location button.
- In the Table Of Contents window, right-click the points sublayer and click Label Features to turn on point ID labels for the points.
- With the Point Report dialog box open, click the Zoom In tool located on the Tools toolbar and drag a box to zoom to the location of point ID 876.
- Close the Point Report dialog box.
- Click the Merges Unconnected Points Inside a Given Rectangle tool
located on the Parcel Editor toolbar.
- Drag a box around the close points.
- Click OK on the Mean Points dialog box to accept the default mean point tolerance.
- Close the adjustment results file.
- Zoom back to the extent of the adjustment parcels. Click the Bookmarks menu and click Fabric Adjustment Area.
- Open the job book. Click the Parcel Editor arrow and click Job Book.
- Close the job book.
- Click the Select Parcel Features tool
on the Parcel Editor toolbar and drag a box to select all the parcels in the fabric adjustment area as you did in step 6.
- Click Parcel Editor > Adjust.
- Type 0.3 for the Distances check tolerance on the Adjust Coordinates dialog box.
- Click Run.
- Click Accept on the Least Squares Adjustment Summary dialog box.
- On the Adjust Coordinates dialog box, click Run to perform the second iteration of the adjustment.
- There is a large blunder in the dataset, and no solution is possible until the blunder is corrected.
- The best solution for the given dataset has already been reached, and the solution converges only to diverge on the next iteration. This occurs when 0.00 easting and 0.00 northing convergence is too stringent for the quality and precision of the dataset.
- Click Accept and run the adjustment for the third iteration.
- Click Accept for the third time on the Least Squares Adjustment Summary dialog box and click OK.
- Choose the Force line points onto lines if within option and leave the default tolerance of 0.328 feet.
- Click Run to run the adjustment one more time.
- Click Accept, then click OK on the Adjust Coordinates dialog box to apply and complete the adjustment.
- Click Parcel Editor > Save Edits to save the edit session and complete the tutorial.
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Fabric adjustment area |
![Note Note](rsrc/note.png)
It is always good practice to run a check fit on your control points before running a fabric least-squares adjustment. The check fit residuals indicate how well the parcel network will fit with its control network. Parcel lines are going to have to adjust at least by the amount of the check fit residuals in the least-squares adjustment. Therefore, check fit residuals can be used as a guideline for setting adjustment tolerances on the Adjust Coordinates dialog box. For example, the control network may be offset by 20 feet from the parcel network, but 20-foot adjustment tolerances are not necessary for the adjustment to succeed.
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Check fit residuals |
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Select adjustment parcels |
![Tip Tip](rsrc/tip.png)
You don't have to select the control points being used in the adjustment. Control points are automatically detected on selected parcels because they are linked to fabric points.
![Note Note](rsrc/note.png)
![List By Selection List By Selection](00wp/GUID-23EEA4CD-C966-454D-8A0F-9DEFE5BA59AC-web.png)
When first running an adjustment on a parcel network, the initial step is to use the adjustment summary displayed in the Least Squares Adjustment Summary dialog box to understand how good the line dimensions (COGO attributes) are and to understand if there are any potential problems in the data that needs to be fixed. The adjustment process will compute coordinates that are the best-fit position for all the fabric points; this computation uses all the bearing and distance values on the lines.
![Note Note](rsrc/note.png)
The adjustment computation does not alter the original COGO attributes on lines.
The adjustment summary compares the new positions of the parcel lines with the original observed or recorded COGO dimensions and reports the differences between the computed and observed values. These numbers are called residuals. Any residuals that are large compared with the residual tolerances that you specify on the Adjust Coordinates dialog box are outliers, meaning that they fall outside your expected range. This means that residual tolerances you specify defines your tolerance for outliers in the data. If you choose higher residual tolerances, it means that you are willing to accept larger differences between the adjusted end points of lines and the associated COGO values. The report will only show residuals that are greater than the distance or bearing residual tolerances that you specify. Until you get to know the data, you will not know what to use as residual tolerances. The approach described in this tutorial shows how to interpret results in the adjustment summary, allowing you to get to know your parcel data and choose appropriate residual tolerances for the parcels that you are adjusting.
Learn more about residual tolerances on the Adjust Coordinates dialog box
![Note Note](rsrc/note.png)
A fabric adjustment fails if any residual is greater than three times the bearings or distances residual tolerances.
![Adjust Coordinates dialog box Adjust Coordinates dialog box](00wp/GUID-9D9F7950-0BCB-431B-82E5-7346CC710E43-web.png)
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Parcel lines report |
![Note Note](rsrc/note.png)
The residuals are determined by a preliminary adjustment; none of the points have had their positions changed in the database at this stage.
These five outliers in the lines occur in two parcels: LS 269 / LS 269 and ROS 6692/ ROS 6692. (These parcels have been stored to represent the plan boundaries/subdivisions, so the plan name and parcel name are the same. The convention for naming in the report is [parcel name]/[plan name].)
The largest outlier of these five lines is 0.622 feet. This means that for the adjustment to succeed, the Distances residuals tolerance should be at least one-third of this value—in other words, after rounding to two decimals, at least 0.21.
One simple approach to have the adjustment succeed is to increase the residuals tolerances. However, if the residuals tolerances required for the adjustment to be successful is very large (10 feet or more), then this is a strong indication of blunders in the data. In these cases, it is important to check that the values recorded for these reported problem lines match the original record values, as found on the legal description for the parcel.
Notice that there are also two points with the object IDs 876 and 881 that are very close to each other. These two points are listed under Close points reported. Close points are fabric points that lie closer than the specified Close points within tolerance and do not have a line between them.
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Close points reported |
Close points indicate that it is very likely the points should be the same point, that there is a topological inconsistency, and that these points should be merged. It is important to merge close points, because, by doing so, you are increasing the redundancy in the network; this is good for helping the adjustment succeed. For example, if there are two points close together and each have two lines defining their positions, you can merge the points and increase the redundancy by having four lines defining the position of just one point.
The least-squares adjustment summary has provided you with information about the actions needed to make this adjustment successful: first, to increase the residuals tolerances and second, to merge some close points. It is important to note that increasing the distances residuals tolerance to 0.21 feet will make this adjustment succeed for this particular set of parcel data. However, after the points are merged, the data will have been changed, and different adjustment summary results will be expected. A good rule of thumb—if the previous adjustment was not successful—is to use three times the previously used value. In this case, use 0.3 feet. First, however, the close points need to be merged.
The fabric is not editable when the Least Squares Adjustment Summary dialog box is open; however, the information in the adjustment summary is also available in the results file.
![Point Report Point Report](00wp/GUID-B9A1AE8A-99C1-4A92-BF4C-6713BAA206AA-web.png)
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Point reporting on one point |
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Close points displayed in the map |
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Merge points |
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Merged point |
![Maximum shift in the adjustment Maximum shift in the adjustment](00wp/GUID-E261698F-F8F5-471D-9050-88435E07A315-web.png)
![Point ID with maximum shift Point ID with maximum shift](00wp/GUID-9296439F-377B-466C-ABB3-AE18646289F9-web.png)
![Tip Tip](rsrc/tip.png)
After an adjustment has been applied, you can still click Undo on the Standard toolbar to undo the least-squares adjustment.