Transforming parcels in the parcel fabric

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

The Transform Parcels toolbar can be used to provisionally move a selection of parcels in the parcel fabric. For example, you would want to move parcels so that they line up with an underlying orthophoto. Parcel points can be snapped to existing control points but are not linked to the control point. You would link a control point to a parcel corner point when you want to use that control point in a least-squares adjustment of the parcels.

Note:

You would use the Transform Parcels toolbar to transform parcels when adjusting parcels to a control network using the least-squares adjustment is not feasible because of poor data quality. With a good quality, survey-accurate fabric, the least-squares adjustment should be used to move or transform parcels.

When a selection of parcels is transformed, only points connected to the boundary of the selection are moved.

Points not connected to the boundary of the parcel selection are not moved and this can result in overlaps and distortion of surrounding parcels. Furthermore, If parcels are moved such that points overlap, these points will not be merged.

If the corner of a parcel being moved is a line point on the boundary of an adjacent parcel, the adjacent parcel line will be bent to the moved parcel's line point. Lines are bent to moved line points as long as the distance between the offset line point and parcel line is less than the tolerance specified for Line-point under the Edit Environment tab on the Parcel Fabric Properties dialog box.

However, if a line is dragged such that adjacent line points no longer sit on top of the line, a least-squares adjustment will need to be run to force line points back onto their lines.

When transforming parcels you can additionally scale and rotate parcels, and move individual parcel points.

Steps:

To transform or move parcels in the parcel fabric, follow these steps:
1. In an edit session in ArcMap, click the Select Parcel Features tool on the Parcel Editor toolbar and select the parcels you want to move or transform.
2. Click the Transform Parcels tool on the Parcel Editor toolbar to open the Transform Parcels toolbar.
3. Make sure the Move Parcels tool on the Transform Parcels toolbar is selected, and drag or move the parcel selection to the desired location.
   • Use the Scale Parcels , Rotate Parcels , and Scale/Rotate Parcels tools to scale and rotate the parcel selection.
   • Use the Move parcel point tool to drag and move individual points in the parcel selection.
4. Once the parcels have been moved to the desired location, click Commit Transformation to save the parcel transformation.