Managing duplicate annotation in the parcel fabric

This topic applies to ArcGIS for Desktop Standard and ArcGIS for Desktop Advanced only.

In the parcel fabric, each parcel has its own set of lines resulting in overlapping lines for the same common boundary. In many cases, these overlapping boundary lines have the same dimensions, which results in duplicate labeling. However, in some cases, overlapping boundary lines have slightly different dimensions and these differing dimensions do need to be labeled. For example, in the fabric below, the top, or northern boundary line, needs to be labeled on both sides as slightly different dimensions for that boundary line were recorded for each adjacent parcel. The bottom, or southern boundary line, needs to be only labeled once as the same dimensions were recorded for that boundary line for each adjacent parcel.

Removing duplicate annotation

You can use the Annotate Parcel Courses tool located on the Parcel Editor toolbar to create and remove duplicate annotation from a selection of parcels. The tool can be used to convert labels to and remove duplicates from new annotation or the tool can be used to overwrite and remove duplicates from existing annotation.

To use the Annotate Parcel Courses tool to remove duplicate annotation, follow these steps:

1. Label your parcel features, for example, parcel lines.
2. Convert your labels to feature-linked annotation.
3. Start an edit session, click the Annotate Parcel Courses tool and select the parcels that have annotation from which you want to remove duplicates.
4. On the Annotate Selected Features dialog box, select the annotation class you want to use, choose whether you want to convert unplaced labels to annotation and click OK.

Tip:

You can also create a new, empty, feature-linked annotation class, load it into the map and use the Annotate Parcel Courses tool to convert labels to annotation using the empty annotation feature class. Make sure to turn off labeling of the feature class being annotated to see the converted annotation.

Applying the Hide field

The Hide field on the parcel lines table is used by the parcel fabric to detect duplicate dimensions when new parcels are created or when parcels are migrated to the fabric. The Hide field is automatically flagged to 1 (true) when dimensions are inversed and detected as duplicates for a common parcel boundary. For example, if data is migrated to the parcel fabric and dimensions are inversed for parcel lines, and if duplicate dimensions are detected for a common parcel boundary, the Hide field will be flagged to 1 (true) for one of the parcel lines. Another example is when parcels are built from construction lines. If duplicate dimensions are detected for a common parcel boundary, the Hide field will automatically be flagged to 1 (true) for one of the parcel lines.

The Hide field can be used in a label expression to remove duplicate labels when labeling parcel features. For example, in the following label expression function, only those parcel lines with a Hide value of 0 (false), are labeled with a bearing and distance.

Label Expression

Function FindLabel ([Bearing], [Distance], [Hide], [Category])
 if(([Hide]=0) and (([Category]=5) or ([Category]=0) )) then  
FindLabel = [Bearing] & " " & [Distance]
End if
End Function

Note:

If you are entering dimensions on your parcels, you can manually set the Hide field to 1 (true) in the traverse grid for duplicate dimensions and use the same label expression described above.

Note:

The Hide field functionality is only available on parcel fabrics that have been upgraded to the release of ArcGIS 10 and beyond.